Lean On Me
by Autumn810
Summary: Cloud Strife is back. He's returned to Midgar three years after his fight with Bahamut SIN. Ever since he found the cure for the spreading disease that nearly destroyed the already recovering town under Aeris' church garden, he has become known as a hero again. But now things are different. Sephiroth is back and he needs to protect them or they will die. Like a chicken nugget.
1. Chapter 1

**THIS IS MY FIRST STORY ON THIS SSITE AND I'M SO ECITED TO SHARE IT HERE! YAY! **

**I AM BUT A HUMBKE PEASANT THAT DOES NOT OWN THIS WONDERFULNESS CALLED FINAL FANTASY 7**

~Tifa's POV~

"Denzel, go wash your hands!" I call to the young boy that wants so much to be like Cloud. Cloud... I shake my head. After he saved the town, he disappeared. Just vanished. That is, after he told me he just wanted to be friends now. I roll my eyes and smile. He was always a confusing one.

"I did!" he calls back, walking into the 7th Heaven, the local hangout I own inside Midgar. Miraculously, it's managed to stand through everything that's gone on in the last four years.

He jumps the counter and pushes past the curtain that divides the bar from the house. I sigh, glaring at the mud spot where his boot brushed the edge. He wants to be a little too much like Cloud. I'm about to chase after him when I hear the front door open again.

"Barret!" I squeal, pulling my tall, dark skinned friend into a hug. He laughs loudly and holds his adopted daughter, Marlene, out to me.

"Can you watch her for a few days? I need to finish our house in Corel."

"Don't you say hey anymore?" I tease him, taking her into my arms. She's growing up at the age of seven, but we still carry her around anyway. She plays with her pink bow for a second before expertly sliding out of my arms and running to the back, where she knows she'll find Denzel.

"Hey Tifa. Could you watch Marlene for a couple days while I finish our new home in Corel?"

"I don't know, are you going to spend more time with her?"

"I'm tryin' Tifa, it's just so hard when I'm just one a those people that can't resist an adventure."

"Which is why you need to stop coming back and forth between here and Corel. It'll do you some good."

"I have a house here, too," he admits.

"Thought so," I laugh. I knew there had to be another reason he kept visiting me. "Can I get you a drink?" I add. Might as well do my job while I can.

"The usual," he nods. "Please."

"Uh-oh," I smirk at him while fixing his drink. "Barret said please. What do you need this time?"

"A lift," He sighs, not bothering to put up a fight.

"I'll call Cid," I nod, giving him his glass.

"Hey, where's the cherry?" he whines.

"We're out until next week," I shush him.

"Hello?" Cid's cheerful voice fills my cell phone.

"Hey Cid!" I laugh back.

"Well if isn't miss Tifa," he chuckles back. "What's up?"

"Barret needs a lift to North Corel. Could you fire up the Highwind and get him there?"

"Yes indeed!" he says heartily. He's always been one of these bipolar people. He's either in really good mood or he's cursing like a sailor because he spilled his coffee.

"Okay, thanks!"

"No problem."

I hang up and look down at the small screen of my flip phone. My wallpaper makes me want to hug him, tell him how much he meant to us. But now he's alone and no one will find him for awhile. I miss Cloud...

"So can he?" Barret interrupts my thoughts.

"Yep. Hurry up with that, I need my cup back."

"No can do," he smirks.

"Barret," I whine.

"Hey Barret!" Denzel comes out behind me.

"Denz!" Barret high fives him and let's him sit down next to him. "How's it goin' bud?"

"Great! But Marlene still wants me to be her unicorn," he crinkles his nose.

"Tell her you'll be her chocobo," Barret laughs.

"I did. She said they're ugly. I mean, obviously she's never seen Rosco."

I feel my smile waver as I look down at my feet. Rosco was Cloud's golden chocobo that was handed down to Denzel when he disappeared. I stand up from my leaning position on the counter.

"I'll be in the back." I announce.

The buzz of the boys' conversation stops suddenly when the door jingles. I turn slowly, and my heart thumps out if my chest. Why... How... I gulp and force tears of confusion, frustration, and joy down.

"Cloud?!" Denzel finally speaks up.

THIS ALL MIGHT BE SLIGHTLY CONFUSING IF YOU HAVEN'T PLAYED OR SEEN THE FF7 MOVIE/GAME. I HAVEN'T EXACTLY BEAT THE GAME YET, STILL STUCK ON THE STUPID RUBY WEAPON. IT WILL BE THE DEATH OF ME...


	2. Chapter 2

~Cloud's POV~

I slam the brakes on my motorcycle. The 7th Heaven's bright red Open sign flickers slightly. The debris from three years ago is mainly gone, except for random chunks of scrap metal on the side of the street. The city now has more light, since now it isn't sucking the Mako energy from the planet. I frown, thinking of all the things Avalanche went through to stop that. All I wanted was money at the time, but of course Tifa made me tag along. I grit my jaw and brush away my thoughts before they can lead to Aeris.

As soon as I push into the familiar bar, all conversation stops. Barret, who still looks the same with his small head, black beard, and oversized muscles. But Denzel... He's more grown up. Something aches inside when I realize he's twelve. I swore to him I would come back on his birthdays but never fulfilled my promises. Not even a letter. His bright blue eyes settle on me just like Barrett's black, beady ones. Tifa, whose back is to us, seems to notice the silence. She turns, and I will never forget the look on her face. Shock, confusion, excitement. She blinks a couple times and leans into the counter, gripping it as if she was going to faint.

"Cloud?!" Denzel speaks up.

"It's me," I nod to him.

"I thought... You're back!" he rushes to me and wraps his thin arms around my waist in a tight hug.

"Yep," I let a small smile spread across my lips.

"Yo Spikey Butt! Come 'ere!" Barret teases me.

"Hey Barret. How's Marlene?" I ask casually as if I haven't been gone for years.

"Great, she's actually back there," he gestures to the curtain that divides the building in two with his gun arm. I only know that because I lived here with Tifa, Denzel, and Marlene before I left.

"We need to talk," Tifa speaks up.

"Right," I say, walking out the front door.

She follows me with a sigh. As soon as I lean back against the outer wall, she throws her arms around my neck and pulls me into a hug. I rest one arm on the small of her back so it doesn't appear that I'm rejecting her hug. Even though I am. She pulls away.

"Where have you been?" she asks, leaning next to me and crossing her arms.

"Around," I shrug.

"Cloud..."

"Do I really have to list everywhere I've been lately?" I sigh.

"Just tell me some of the places."

"Well I visited Choco Sage for a week or two. Then I went to check up on Nanaki in Cosmo Canyon, but he wasn't there. So I went to Junon and hung out with that little girl Priscilla. The one that had a crush on me?"

"Yeah, her," Tifa scoffs.

"Jealous," I smirk, bumping her shoulder.

"Not a chance," she bumps me back.

"So yeah, just been exploring everywhere."

"But Cid flies everyday, he would have spotted you eventually. And how did you cross the water?" she looks confused.

"Where I was living doesn't matter, and I still had the black chocobo, so I could breed another golden one," I shrug as if it's simple.

"But it matters to me," she sighs.

"Well it shouldn't," I roll my eyes.

"But it does, so at least tell me the city."

"Fine. For the first half if the time I was gone, I stayed in Wutai. Then Yuffie came back, so I lived in the mythril mines."

"You lived in Wutai?!" she looks at me incredulously.

"Yeah?"

"Wow," she shakes her head.

"What?"

"Nothing," she sighs, walking back inside. I shrug and follow her.

"Where are the rest?" I ask Barret, sitting at the table he's seated at. He knows what I'm taking about.

"Cid is on his way here to bring me to Corel, RedIIX is probably out with the rest of his... doohickeys, Cait Sith is back at the Shinra building, Yuffie's probably out stealing whatever, and Vince is just being... Vincent."

"He scares you," I raise an eyebrow.

"Who doesn't he scare? He a stinkin' creep!"

"Hey, don't hurt Vinnie's feelings!" Tifa calls from the counter.

"No harm done," I hear that deep voice rumble through my body and look up. Then I smile.

"Hey Vincent," greet him.

"Cloud," he acknowledges before plopping down beside Barret, where Denzel was before he ran behind the curtain to find Marlene. Barret eyes him and Vince looks at me with a look of victory, his crimson irises twinkling.

"So Barret," he looks at the big man. "How's the girl?"

"Uh, great."

"That's good," Vince chuckles.

"Oh, stop teasing him, Vince," Tifa swats him on the head with a rag, his black hair flopping over into his face.

"Cid should be here," Barret looks uneasily at the wall clock. Just as he says that, we hear the huge blimp like hovercraft overhead. Minutes later, Cid, cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth, pushes into the bar.

"Whoa, who we got here," he pats my back hard.

"A puffy, white thing," Barret sighs.

"How's she holdin' up?" I say in reference to the Highwind.

"She's dandy, probably last me another decade if I'm lucky," he says in his cheerful voice. At least he's not in his sailor mood as we all call it.

I nod. It's kinda odd for me to be here. I haven't been around very many people for the past year and a half. These people are my friends, sure, not to mention fighting buddies. They've been through practically everything with me, when I let them, that is.

"Ready to go?" Cid says to Barret.

"Yeah."

"Say bye to Marlene!" Tifa demands.

"You and I both know it's easier if I don't," he shakes his head.

"Fine," Tifa snorts, tossing her long hair, and walking back behind the curtain.

"You made her mad," Vince shakes his head.

"Thanks for statin' the obvious." Barret looks at him.

"You're very welcome."

Wait, why is everyone not getting along? Last time I was with them, it was like a family reunion. Now it's like a war. I look back and forth between the glare Barret is shooting and the calm expression on Vincent's face. When does he ever show expression, anyway? He's like a zombie!

"As much as I'd like to watch your staring match, I need to go," I stand.

"Cloud, get yo spikey behind outta here," Barret growls.

"My spikey behind was leaving," I roll my eyes and push past him. What happened to them? I don't even remember why I came. Why am I even trying? I know I can't live the rest of my life on the run, but I can't be around them if this is how they're gonna be.

"Where's my sword," I mutter under my breath, looking for the fusion swords that were supposed to be clipped into the side of my bike. "It should be right here..."

"Hey Cloud!" I hear a chirpy voice call to me and look up. I smile as Yuffie runs past me, arms full of materia. "I'll be using these if you need me!"

"Have fun," I mutter under my breath, shaking my head. "Now those swords..."

Suddenly, a sharp ringing overtakes my head, flooding my mind. Sounds like electrical wires zapping mix in the background and I see a blurry image behind my eye lids. The prices come together in one sharp motion. I clutch to the sides of my head, falling to my knees unwillingly. What's happening to me?

The image... Sephiroth... The reunion something whispers in the back of my mind.

Then his voice. _Do as I say, Cloud._ No! This can't be happening. He's controlling me again.

"Cloud!" someone yells behind me. "Cloud?!"

I force my eyes open, the ringing getting more intense with each passing second. I feel like my head is going to pop from the amount of pressure. Only Sephiroth could do this to me because of the testing I went through. And the mako in my veins.

"Cloud!" they scream this time.

I look up to see Tifa gripping my arm. In her eyes I see myself for a split second; my pupils are dilated so bad my eyes are black. Then Tifa's shape changes. Suddenly, I'm looking into the eye of Sephiroth. He grins evilly, setting a hand on my arm. I looking at my hands, pulling them away from my head. A black, disease like rash covers my skin. Geostigma, my mind recognizes. Again? But I was cured... The pressure inflates so largely that black covers my vision and I'm out cold.

**OOO! SCARY! IN CASE YOU DON'T REMEMBER, GEOSTIGMA IS THE DISEASE THAT WAS KILLING OF THE PEOPLE OF MIDGAR BECAUSE OF EXPOSURE TO THE LIFE STREAM. CLOUD FOUND THE CURE IN ADVENT CHILDREN. SO YEAH, HE MIGHT HAVE HALLUCINATED, HE MIGHT HAVE SEEN THE REAL THING. VOTE! **


	3. Chapter 3

~Yuffie's POV~

"How is he?" I ask, leaning against the doorway of Cloud's room. Tifa's muscular back blocks my view from our retired leader. I may have been a happy-go-lucky, ditzy thief back when Cloud convinced me into joining Avalanche, but I've changed. Kinda. I still have loads of energy, I still prefer to be called a ninja over a girl, and my interest in materia has not lowered one bit, even if my father is doing well back in Wutai.

"I don't know," she sighs, the tightness in her voice evident. I could be because this is weird for us or because she's gonna cry. Dear Lord, tell me she's not going to cry. I refuse to be her tissue!

"Thanks for the help," I mutter, crossing my arms and kicking at the other side of the wall gently.

"I'm only telling you all I know," she scoffs.

"Which isn't much," I remind her. I do this to get a reaction, which is usually hilarious. "Tifa Lockhart? Not knowing what's wrong with her boyfriend? Seems a little off, considering you practically stalk him."

"He's not my boyfriend," she defends quickly.

"So you stalk him?" I smirk at my leg.

"I never said that," she gives an exasperated sigh.

"You never said you didn't."

"What is your... Ugh, forget it, I'm getting back to work." She stops away, the pink ribbon tied around her arm fluttering slightly. I tied mine around my arm at first. Then I changed it to my ankle, not because I'm ashamed of honoring Aeris, but because it's more comfortable for my to throw my Conformer. Or boomerang, whichever you prefer. Mega shuriken!

"Hey Cloud," I whisper, touching the soft white blanket covering his body. There's more to me and Tifa not getting along than me annoying her and her being a 'perfect' person all the time, which annoys the crap out of me.

Most people would say we have nothing in common. No, I'm not talking about the smart mouth answers like 'You're both girls, you have hair, you have butts". I'm talking about interests. We have one thing in common there. Cloud. Cloud is our common interest. Shh, don't judge. It's just the way he takes command without realizing it, how spikey his light blonde hair is, the dazzling blue if his eyes always dancing when he's happy or curious, but literally turns dark blue, almost gray, when he's angry. Somehow, I manage to notice all these little things but to him, I'm just another face in the crowd. Someone only useful when he wants me to pickpocket a monster or two while in battle. In other words, I'm a waste if space in this group. Sometimes, I wish I was noticed as more than an immature girl that doesn't understand anything.

Being the Emperor's rebellious daughter does have some perks in that lane. I'm determined. I'm staying in because as long as Cloud is alive and well and I'm interested in him, I will do whatever he says like a puppet. Maybe I wanna be his puppet. Geeze, that sounds wrong... Yup, I'm still the Yuffie you knew four years back! I fiddle with the huge metal wheel strapped to my hip. My dad asked me how I managed to throw the thing. I asked him how he managed to turn into a lion faced totem pole in seconds. He laughed then, thinking back to when I fought my way up all five floors of the Wutai tower, defeating my undefeated father and earning a summon materia. Old Leviathan.

I play with light, making it reflect everywhere off of my weapon. Suddenly, the room dims slightly. Probably a cloud overhead, my subconscious speaks. I frown, angling it to catch more light. The cloud disappears and the light flashes me right in the eyes.

"Holy crap!" I shriek, dropping the wheel back to it's position and rubbing my eyes.

Now bored (and slightly scared) of playing with light, I absent mindedly slip my pinkie finger in and out of the netting that covers my left leg. Most people think it's a fashion thing, but it's more of a security blanket thing. That leg was always weaker and thinner. I found as a young child that wrapping a blanket it around it made me feel safer. Weird, right? As I learned to fight with a boomerang, I found netting to be more comfortable. Only my friends in Avalanche seem to understand that. Of course, they seem to understand everything and I'm just the slow one. Eh, whateves.

"Why are unconscious people so freaking boring!?" I groan, looking at the ceiling.

"Maybe because my head's killing me," I hear a low voice mutter.

"Cloud?" I look at him.

"Yep." his lips barely move and his eyes are still closed. I can hardly hear him, really.

"Are you still dead?" I furrow my eyebrows.

"What are you talking about?" he groans, shifting slightly.

"Never mind, inside joke," I snicker thinking of Cait Sith.

"Ah," he mumbles again before seemingly dozing off.

"As much as I would like to stay and awkwardly wait for you to speak again, I better go get Tifa." I say, fully aware he's out cold.

I stand and walk out of the room, passing by Marlene, who hugs her doll as I look at her. She said I was beautiful once. I told her she was prettier. She agreed. Little snot bomb... I roll my eyes mentally and push past the thin purple cloth strips that divide the building in half.

"Tifa, he was just awake," I yawn.

"Is this for real or a practical joke?" she raise an eyebrow.

"Real deal," I shrug. "But he's out again."

"You probably bored him to death," she scoffs.

"We talked about you," I lie easily, leaning my back against the counter.

"What did he say?" she straightens slightly.

"He wants you to go drink out of the toilet and then kill a TV to death."

"Very funny."

"What! You totally should, it would scare the crap out if him if you told him you did that!"

"Unfortunately, some of us don't have time for practical jokes." Tifa scoffs. "Not all of us were brought under royalty."

"In case you haven't noticed, this royalty has no mother, a suckish father, and would trade her life for a seal's in a heartbeat."

"Wow, that's deep."

"Sure it is."

"How can you talk about it that easily?" She sighs. I open one of my closed eyes, confused. "I mean your mom. It's hard for me to talk about death, and Cloud can't bring up Aeris without getting all depressed."

"I don't remember knowing her, it makes it easier, I guess," I shrug. Secretly, I remember every little thing about her. How she would sing to me at night and hug me when I fell, how she was beautiful. I'm just good at covering it up, I guess.

"Well, I'm gonna go say hi to Cloud now," she sighs.

"That's great," I mutter, sarcasm laced think in my tone.

She turns and I shake my head. Her hair looks ridiculous. Long, to the back of her knees, but tied at the end, where it splits in two. She looks like she grew a fish out of her scalp. Hey, just being the honest, somewhat tomboy I am!

**I HONESTLY DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO END THIS CHAPTER! SO YUFFIE HAS A CRUSH ON CLOUD, EH? AS DOES TIFA. WHO DO YOU SHIP!? LIFE LONG FRIENDS VS BATTLE PARTNERS THAT SHARE AIRCRAFT SICKNESS. ⭐ ⭐ ⭐**


	4. Chapter 4

~Cloud's POV~

I can't help that I wake up, as much as I don't want to. I can't open my eyes. They're too heavy, but I can definitely hear Yuffie yelling 'Holy crap!" right next to me. I guess that's my cue to speak up. Fortunately, she beats me to it.

"Why are unconscious people so freaking boring!?" she groans.

"Maybe because my head's killing me," I mutter, surprised by how quiet my voice is.

"Cloud?" She says, surprised, and I feel her dark eyes on me.

"Yep." My lips barely move and my eyes are still closed.

"Are you still dead?" she asks after a short moment of silence. What...?

"What are you talking about?" I groans, shifting slightly in an attempt to pull the blankets higher.

"Never mind, inside joke," she snickers.

"Ah," I mumble weakly, my throat beginning to hurt.

"As much as I would like to stay and awkwardly wait for you to speak again, I better go get Tifa." she says, the coldness in her voice clear as she stands.

My head is killing me and I have no choice but to think about what happened before I went out. Sephiroth... he was there, the voices were there, the ringing... I scrunch my eyes tighter, trying to ignore the issue with this situation. Sephiroth is dead, I killed him myself. Of course, I thought that he first couple times as well. I hear their murmured conversation, also laced with coldness and sarcasm. Girls tend to speak that language naturally, don't they? Sarcasm?

"Hey Cloud," I feel the edge of my bed dip in. I let a small noise escape through my throat to let Tifa know I'm not out cold.

"How's the head?"

"Okay," I sigh.

"Can I get you anything?"

"Peace?" I grumble.

"Sorry..." she mutters. "I forgot how grumpy you get when you get hurt. It's been three years, remember," she mocks me.

"I though we got past that," I try to reason.

"Cloud, as long as you've known me, you should know I don't let things like that go lightly."

"Right," I avoid nodding.

"So... Can you take the pain like a man and tell us what happened?"

"They're still out there?" I furrow my brows.

"Yeah."

"How long has it been?"

"You've been out for three hours, if that's what you meant."

"That's what I meant," I agree. "But can it wait until tomorrow?"

"Only if you agree to pay for the inn fee for tonight."

"Inn fee?" I frown.

"Where else are the guys gonna stay? Literally all of then are here!"

"Biggs and Wedge aren't," I mumble.

"Hey, don't bring that back up, okay?" she takes my hand and gives it a squeeze.

"Fine. How much?"

"Ten gil a person," I can hear the humor in her voice.

"Why can't they sleep in the Highwind?"

"There's no beds, moron," she scoffs.

"Fine," I give in. "Sixty gil."

"I thought it was fifty?"

"Yuffie...?"

"I was hoping she could sleep outside," she mutters.

"Tifa, seriously?" I mentally roll my eyes.

"Whatever. I'll go get the money, you rest it up. Tomorrow, are talking, whether you feel like crap or not." she leaves.

I always feel like crap the second day though...

~Barret's POV~

Sunlight streams in through the inn room's window. The last time we were here, Cloud told us about his life. Either he was delusional or he lied. I don't care. Either way, I know he real story now. Lot more than I would've thought.

"Barret, you're stepping on my tail," a soft voice growls.

"Sorry Red," I move my feet. "Just been thinkin'."

"About what?" he yawns, his huge jaws separating to reveal his large teeth.

"That thing that Cloud did, grippin' his head or whatever," I start. "The first time he did that was when he was with me in a reactor. He started screamin' at somethin' until I told him to get his spikey butt off the floor and run."

"And?" Red looks very uninterested.

"That only happened when Sephiroth was alive."

"Can we please not talk about that creep?" He takes a deep breath.

"Fine. But can you stop burning my boot?" I look down at the natural flame that flickers from the tip of his tail.

"My pleasure."

We haven't been together in a group like this for ages. Looking around the room, I can see why. Vincent is standing up, trying to distance himself while he sleeps, arms crossed and black hair over his face. He give me the creeps, as quiet and smart as he is. RedIIX slept on the floor by my bed, seeing as he is some sort if talking animal thing. Yuffie is curled up in the second bed, like a little ball, her giant shuriken on the foot if the bed. It amazes me how someone so strong can become so small. Cid is on the last bed, arms hanging off at the sides and mouth hanging open, his loud snores filling the room. Last but not least, Cait Sith sleeps on top of his stuffed mog, curled up. How his crown manages to never fall off, I have no idea. But he is robotic in a way, so it could be welded to him.

My phone rings twice before I answer it, only waking Vince, who barely glances up, but his red eyes glow clearly. The they close again.

"Hello?" I open the door and step out of the room.

"Hey Barret. Listen, we're headed to the playground in Sector Seven. We'll meet you guys up there. Okay?" Tifa says cheerfully. Woman, it is seven in the mornin!

"Fine," I sigh and hang up. "Everybody up!" I yell.

Yuffie jumps awake, grabbing her shuriken and standing in fighting position in less than a second.

"Chill out there, ninja," Cid chuckles, yawing. "Why are you waking us up at freaking dawn?" he glares at me.

"Because Tifa told me to."

"Of course she did," he sighs, throwing his pillow over his face. How is he in his forties?

"Don't all pilots get up early?" Cait Sith says, his mog stretching underneath him.

"Not this old man."

"It's only been three years, get off yo butt," I scoff.

"You scared the crap outta me," Yuffie jumps from the bed, attaching the Conformer to her belt.

"Too bad."

"Some one's happy," Red stretches his back, butt in the air.

"Let's just hope he doesn't get even happier," Vince mutters before pushing past me.

"There they are," Tifa says loudly to get our attention. Somehow, that stupid plastic cat slide has managed to survive. Too bad Jesse didn't. Or Wedge. Biggs. Why am I thinking about them? The past is in the past.

"Yeah," I roll my eyes, jumping on top if the plastic play set.

"Easy there," I here a voice beside me. I look at Cloud, who is hugging his knees loosely. He looks pretty distant, not really caring if I dent this thing or not.

"How's the head."

"Crappy."

"Ah," I laugh. He looks at me with a small smile on his face.

"How was last night?"

"You mean in Kalm? It was okay, small room though. Could've done any better?" I joke.

"I wasn't really gone spend a ton of money in you guys," he smirks and raises his eyebrows at me.

"You still even have all that gil from four years ago, right?"

"Eh, it's hidden throughout the planet."

"So..." Yuffie sits underneath us in the slide part. "How's the guy talk?"

"Fantastic," I look down at her. Cloud remains silent, zoning out again.

"Cloud?" she looks at him with a frown. He continues to stare at the sky. "Cloud?"

"She took me here once," Is all he says. Aeris. That's where she and Cloud saw Tifa getting taken away to that weird fat guy's house. Creep. That's also the time Cloud dressed up as a girl.

"We kind of have a problem," Tifa starts to explain. "I'm sure you all remember what happened yesterday. As in, Cloud passing out and junk, but I'd kinda like to know what's going on?" she looks at Blondie. "Cloud?"

"Huh?" he snaps out if it. "Oh. I was just getting on my bike, but I couldn't find my fusion swords. So I was looking around the bike for them and then something all... just this huge pressure filled my head. And I could hear him..." he pauses for a second. "He kept telling me to do whatever he said to. Then, I guess it was Tifa, sat beside me. All I saw was him. And when she touched my shoulder, all I saw was the Geostigma. Then in blacked out." he concludes.

"Um... there are a lot of hims out there, kid," Cid says slowly. "Who exactly are we talking about?"

Cloud's eyes flash as he looks up, looking straight into Vincent's eyes.

"Sephiroth."

"And only Sephiroth can control you," Yuffie puts the pieces together slowly. Then She and Cloud's eyes meet. "Which means..."

"Sephiroth's alive," Cloud finishes for her.

The air remains thick and silent for a few moments.

"It might just be a coincidence...?" Red says hopefully.

"Yeah, don't you think you're jumping to conclusions, Cloud?" Tifa says. Cloud takes a deep breath and leans back on his hands.

"Look, you were the one that wanted me to tell everyone about my ideas. My idea is that he's alive."

"Cloud, it could be that mako thing," Cid says.

"Vince?" Cloud pleads with his eyes.

"Don't pull me into this one," the tall man says, shaking his head.

"Doesn't anyone believe me?!" he says, exasperated. I don't blame him, he's been through a lot, and never once has he comes lately failed us. And that's why I trust him, but Yuffie beats me to speaking as she does everyone else.

"I do." Everyone looks at her as if she's grown a horn out of her forehead. Uni-Yuff... "I mean, he always manages to come alive again after we think he's gone for good. Doesn't he? So why can Cloud be right?"

"Exactly," I agree.

"So... What? We think he's alive because Cloud's lost his mind?" Cid retorts.

"No, we think he's alive because the only person that can control him is Sephiroth." Yuffie defends.

"Fine. So what are we going to do about it?" Tifa sighs, plopping her chin into one of her hands.

"What we did last time, I suppose," RedIIX sighs, lying down on the mulch. "Chase him all over the planet."


	5. Chapter 5

~Cloud's POV~

I glance down at RedIIX, who looks ready to doze off. Everyone remains silent, shifting awkwardly. I want to punch through a wall right now. Tifa specifically told me before we left that she wanted me to tell them what I really thought. And now here she is, covering up because she doesn't want to be embarrassed. Normally, I would yell at someone, but I haven't yelled very much in the past year or two, so I would just end up getting a sore throat. Actually, the last time I yelled was when that stupid Midgar Zolam stole my dinner. He's worse than Cid when I comes to food.

"I need to go get a few things from our room, so if anyone wants to come along, now's your chance," Cid announces, standing and walking past the city gates to the Highwind. Just the thought of it makes me queasy, though I'm not alone. It has the same effect on Yuffie.

"I'll come," Red and Vince offer at the same time.

"I'm gonna go talk to Tifa," Barret mutters, sliding down the side of the playground equipment. Cait Sith silently follows the aircraft group. I glance down at Yuffie.

"You need to get anything?"

"No," she sighs. "It's not that they do either, it's just that they want to get out of an awkward situation."

"Yeah," I nod.

"You know, I've always wondered why you don't talk much. I think you set a record today," she jokes, climbing up and sitting in the butt-sized dent beside me where Barret had sat.

"I don't know, I've never talked that much," I admit. "Never had anyone to talk to besides my mother."

"Don't feel too bad," she laughs, shaking her head. "All I had was the bar tender on Wednesdays when I was delivering for my dad."

"That doesn't sound too great," I smile slightly, enjoying her energetic attitude

"What's worse is he always smelled like cat pee," she crinkles her nose.

"That's just gross," I chuckle softly. She nods, a wide grin plastered on her face as she plays with her leg netting. I've noticed she does that a lot. She said it's a security thing, just like the metal brace-like object over the thigh in her left leg, the same leg with the netting. And the arm cover she uses as a shield in battle.

We sit in a comfortable silence while I watch Tifa and Barret, trying to read their lips. It isn't working very well though. Tifa looks more than frustrated and Barret looks like he wants to shoot something with his gun arm. I glance over at my motorcycle and close my eyes. This is the place where me and Aeris saw Tifa being taken away to Don Corneo, acting as a spy. I remember dressing up as a girl and smile slightly. I have all the costume stuff stored in the church... The church. I suddenly have a strong urge to visit the place, even though there's a huge hole in the floor where the life stream broke loose three years ago and healed me, Denzel, and tons of others, of their Geostigma. I open my eyes and jump down the side of the cat slide.

"Where are you going?" Yuffie asks, jumping behind me.

"The Church. Wanna come?"

"Sure!" I chuckle at the enthusiasm in her voice and swing my leg over the side if my bike. Yuffie climbs on behind me, loosely grabbing around my waist. I slide my shades unto my face and start the engine. Tifa looks beyond enraged as she stomps up to my bike.

"Aren't you my ride back?" she asks, trying to stay calm. Whatever Barret said back there has them both seriously mad.

"Yeah?" I raise an eyebrow.

"Is there any more room?"

"If Yuffie scoots up," I glance at the huge gap she tried to put between my butt and her body. Yuffie rolls her eyes and completely closes the gap, allowing Tifa to barely fit. She grips to back of the bike as I zoom off. Yuffie's grip tightens slightly around my abdomen and she squints into the air, looking around us eagerly. Tifa acts as if this is nothing special and leans back a little. We reach Aeris's church and stop outside. I sniff the air, which smells... odd.

"Something's up," Tifa confirms my thoughts as I unclipped my fusion swords from my bike, easily sliding them together to make a larger replica of Zack's buster sword. Then I slide it into the strap on my back. We walk into the door, which looks like it was kicked down, and look around. The golden glow of the flowers still lives, making me relax some, but barely. I hear a crunch of a boot and looks back at the girls, but they're looking around for the source of the noise too. Suddenly, a dark figure drops down behind Tifa, who is already punching at them and blocking hits.

"Dark skin, suit, punching," Yuffie mutters under her breath.

"Sounds like Rude," I spin slowly, looking for his red headed friend. "Where's there's a Rude, there's a Reno."

Rude knocks Tifa over, but she rolls backwards and lands in a crouching position. Then she swings a leg out, knocking him down to the floor. The big, clumsy man scrambles to his feet, but not before she pins him up against the wall, her forearm arm pressed to his throat.

"Where's Reno!?" she demands, pressing harder. Me and Yuffie causally walk over, standing to her right. I pull my sword out and rest it on my shoulder, a position I feel more comfortable in.

"Peek-a-boo," we hear before Reno jams his electro rod into Tifa's bare lower abdomen, making her release her grip on Rude. I step forward swiftly, tip of my sword just under his throat.

"I wouldn't do that." I warn as his shock releases Tifa.

"Do what," he asks innocently. I press forward, making a small cut on his neck. He shoves me off. "Okay, I get it, geeze!"

I back off, glaring at Reno's unusually red hair that makes me think of a fox. Rude adjusts the collar of his shirt before pushing his back shades back up to his eyes, making me tug mine up on top of my head. I completely forgot in was wearing them.

"Gah!" Yuffie yells.

I turn quickly and realize she threw her large shuriken at Elena, another one of the Turks. Elena shoots a couple bullets at Yuffie, missing both times as she moves out if the way at record speed. Then she catches her Conformer as I flies back to her.

"Enough Elena!" Reno sighs.

"Why are you here?" I demand.

"Why wouldn't I be here?" he challenges. "It's nice, pretty, and the flowers are being taken care of," He adds.

"Denzel..." Tifa starts.

"But why are you here?"

"Same reason as you."

"To see why it smells like burning rubber?"

"Ah, that would be Elena's shoes," he motions to the woman's boots in the corner, melted for no apparent reason. "But no. I've heard you know about Sephiroth?"

"Just a theory," I shrug.

"All truths have started with theories, Cloud," Reno chuckles. Not exactly...

"Why do you care?" I frown.

"Um, hello?" Elena scoffs. "Anyone home? He killed Tseng!"

"And..?" I raise an eyebrow.

"We're..." Rude clamps a hand down over her mouth.

"Elena, you talk to much," Reno sighs and her eyes widen as he quotes Tseng. "I don't know why we even brought you along."

"So that's it?" I look around. It looks pretty much the same as it did before besides the dust we kicked up fighting with each other and the belted boots in the corner.

"Yup, pretty much." He looks back at Elena. "Don't step on the flowers," he mocks Tseng again before Rude releases her and they leave.

Yuffie walks around the church and opens my materia chest. Oh boy...

"You still have it all here!?" she squeals.

"Yeah, haven't moved any of my stuff. Not that I had much anyway," I glance down at Aeris's flowers. I hear metal scraping across the floor lightly before looking up to see Tifa holding the Buster Sword. She bounces it a few times in one hand to get the idea of it's weight before observing the materia slots and the blade itself.

"You still have this?" she asks, tracing her finger lightly along the edge.

"Yeah, I meant to put it at Zack's memorial when I left town, but I just had to... get out," I say the last part slowly.

" Let's go drop it off then," she says, tossing the blade at me and walking out of the building.

**I HOW ARE MY LOVELIES DOING? HMM? THAT'S GOOD!**


	6. Chapter 6

~Cloud's POV~

I stop the engine on my motorcycle pull off my shades. Tifa slides off the back of the bike, along with Yuffie. I unstrap the Buster sword from my back and hold the blade out horizontally in front of me. It's been awhile since I've held this thing. It still feels solid and strong in my hands, heavy and broad just like when Zack gave it to me. I look up the hill where a small patch of yellow flowers sprout from the earth, exactly along the same edge of a cliff Zack died on. At least he made good fertilizer... No, forget I even said that, that was a sick, sick joke.

I hang the blade by my side as I begin to walk up the hill. Behind me, Yuffie starts to follow, but Tifa holds out an arm to stop her and shakes her head. When I reach the top, I glance down at the flower bed, then look out over at the view. You can see Midgar clearly from here, the tall, slightly empty Shinra building, the rusty Sister Ray, the slums.

_'Is this a grave?' Denzel once asked me._

_'No, this is where a hero was born," _I had answered absent mindedly. I used to sit up here and plop down beside Zack's buried body and talk to him as if he was really there. A flashback floods into my brain as I kneel by the flowers.

_"There it is, Cloud. Midgar. There's a whole new life out there for us!"_

_Suddenly, Shinra soldiers march up out of nowhere, shooting Zack and not bothering with me. I limp over to my nearly-dead best friend. He smiles up at me weakly thought the blood smeared in his face. He reaches beside him and ,with his remaining strength, hands me the Buster Sword._

_"Finish my legacy." he whispers before sliding his dark eyes shut._

"Cloud," I feel a hand in my shoulder, but I shrug it off, angrily stabbing the sword deep into the earth. It sinks halfway in, right at the head of the flower bed, like some sort of memorial. Then I grit my teeth and start to stand.

"Cloud?" Tifa says next to me.

_Kill her_, a voice deep in my head whispers.

"Get out!" I scream, holding my head as their voice gets louder.

_Grab the buster sword. Kill Tifa._

"Tifa, run!" I yell, not even looking back at her, pressing my palms against my temples.

_Now!_ My body becomes like a puppet, gripping the handle of the sword and ripping it out if the earth at an inhumane speed. I turn on Tifa, uncontrolled and swing the weapon at her. Yuffie pushes her down and they roll back to their feet. No! Stop! I can't control myself. Kill the girls. I charge at them against my will, swinging with expertise I didn't know I had. I'm not me... I'm being controlled. This fighting style is all too familiar. This time, they fight back.

"Cloud, stop!" Tifa yells at me while rolling away from my slash. She kicks me in the head and I stumble back a few steps before regaining my balance when that force should've knocked me out. She kicks that hard, yes. I raise my weapon again, which is this time knocked out of my hands by Yuffie's Conformer. It slides across the grass, way out of my reach. Tifa tries to knock me down while I look after my sword, but I block her hit without even glancing her way. What Is going on?! Why can't I stop! It's like watching myself from a distance.

I jump for the blade, snatching it back up and smiling at it, getting the feel. Suddenly, I'm on my back, facing a very angry Tifa. She holds her forearm against my throat. Add anymore pressure and she'd be choking me. I glare up at Yuffie, who stands over her shoulder, and spit in her face. she stumbles back, groaning in disgust.

"Dude, that's just nasty! I thought he was supposed to turn you into a monster, not an alpaca!" she glares at me.

Suddenly, it's like I've been snapped out of a trance. I blink a couple times before sitting up, easily letting Tifa fall away.

"What just happened?" I mutter, dazed. Then I hold up a hand when Yuffie tries to answer. "I don't really want to know."

"You don't," she agrees.

"Let's just go," Tifa mutters, stabbing the dirt where my sword was before.

"So wait, you were put under control again?" Vince looks at me in disbelief.

"Yeah, made me attack Yuffie and Tifa too." I nod, jamming my hands in my pockets.

"That's just... we have to find him," he shakes his head.

"But where do we start?" I sigh, kicking at a rock.

"I've got a pretty good idea." As I look into his deep crimson eyes and at his smirk, I realize why Vinnie give Barret the creeps.

~Vincent's POV~

"I have a pretty good idea," I look straight into Cloud's unnaturally blue eyes. He shudders underneath my gaze and I smirk. As tough as this guy is, he can't look me dead in the eye without getting goosebumps. I like having that power over people. Especially when I tell them I can turn into a beast. It makes me feel taller.

"Uh... where?" he asks. He saw me outside if the 7th Heaven and told me about the incidents today. I feel bad for the guy. He's had a rough life. We both have. At least I can relate to someone around here. After all he's been through, losing Aeris was not a good move for life to take. It broke him down, drove him mad until he became some super strong man that doesn't take crap and is still as sweet as can be.

"Where did you last see him?" I start.

"Back in Midgar, where we last fought." Cloud raises an eyebrow.

"Exactly. And when someone dies, where do they go?" I ignore the day dreamy look in his eye that means his mind is elsewhere. Probably Aeris's death.

"The life stream," he mutters. I snap in his face as best as I can with my gloved hand. There's no way I'm snapping with with my other hand, which is covered in metal.

"Cloud. I'm losing you, buddy."

"Sorry."

"It's fine. Now where did you end up when you fell in the life stream?"

"Mideel..." his voice trails off and his blue eyes widen.

"Yup," I cross my arms proudly. My cell phone rings and I look down at it silently. Yuffie finally convinced my to get this odd gadget and someone gave her my number. I'm going to strangle someone one of these days.

"Hello?" I say tiredly in the speaker.

"I'm after you. Tell Cloud he isn't getting away. I know where you are. And I'm preparing for a little... Visit." Then they hang up. But I stare at the phone in shock, the tiny screen telling me the call was ended.

"Who was that," Cloud runs a hand through his spikey hair, which somehow doesn't get messed up.

"S-Sephiroth," I stutter, looking dead on into his eyes again. But this time, I'm not the one making him shudder.

~Tifa's POV~

"We have to be prepared for anything," Cloud says loudly to be heard throughout the whole cockpit. I nod and look through the materia chest Yuffie brought along.

"Cid and Red are coming with me," he says. "Tifa, Cait Sith, and Barret are in a group," he continues. "And... Um, Yuffie and Vin," he adds quietly.

"You're kidding me," Vincent looks up and glares at Cloud, who ignored his complaint.

"What?!" Yuffie yells. "Why?!"

"Because you guys make a good fighting team, that's why," Cloud reasons as she huffs and plops back down to her curled up to position. At least nature knows what she deserves. I smirk and look at poor Vin. Regardless of how much they dislike each other, they do make a good team. Vincent's Death Penalty is good for both close and long range fighting, while Yuffie specializes in throwing her Shuriken, Magic, and if the enemy gets too close, she pulls the two knives that pin her short hair back out and fights with those. I have to admit, sometimes I'm jealous when it comes to weapons, all I get are gloves, but that's what I'm good for, I guess. Punching people in the face.

"Oh get over it, you little girls," Cid scoffs.

"Thanks for recognizing my gender, but that doesn't exactly help in this situation," Yuffie rolls her eyes.

"Just remember, no vomit on the floor, only in the ocean." he teases.

"I wish Bugenhagen was here," RedIIX sighs, laying his head on his front paws. I'll have to admit, when he jumped out of the specimen cage in the Shinra building, in as terrified. It was even scarier when he spoke. An animal talking to me wasn't exactly at the top of my list of expectations for that particular mission.

"So do I," Cait Sith nods. " He was very nice."

"He was but I didn't mean that," Red rolls over to face to wall his back was just to.

"Sorry," the robot cat mutters, patting his mog. "Here we are!" Barret calls to break the awkward tension.

I rush to the window and press my hands to the glass like a little girl. I gasp.

"Land!" Cid shouts desperately. We sink to the ground, and I'm the first one out.

"What happened?" Cloud says in a hushed tone behind me.

"Sephiroth," Vincent mutters.

I rush up to the maid I once bought accessories from for battle. Her black and white dress is ripped and she has a long cut across her face. The weapon salesman rubs his right shoulder, which is swollen and bruised. This places looks awful. Everyone is injured or dead. The small white chocobo that is always about town squawks and rubs it's head against my bare leg.

"Let's go!" Cloud commands, rearranging the way his sword is put together. Cid pulls out his lance and stands by his side while Red meanders his way over slowly. I find Barret and join he and Cait Sith. Cait bounces excitedly and fiddles with his megaphone. I simply make sure all the materias are in their slots and that my gloves are strapped tightly before glancing up at my best friend and following his through the north side if the town. Yuffie and Vincent remain silenced and distanced slightly, walking carefully through the west, where the thick trees are. Cloud leads his group through the east, the more populated side. I'm glad I'm not goin through there. I might cry from all the dead bodies. Not that I'm weak. I just have a heart. After minutes of wandering and searching for tall, gray haired man, Barret speaks up.

"How do you think Yuffie and Vincent are doing?" he laughs.

"Probably pulling each others hair out."

"I'd like to see her try to pull his out. I'll bet he's secretly in love with his hair."

"I don't think..."

A blood curdling scream fills our ears and I freeze.

"Yuffie." I say under my breath before sprinting towards the noise. "Yuffie!" I scream.

"Cloud!" I hear Vincent yell. I've never hear him yell before. I break through the opening of my starting point just as Cloud sprints in front of me, making me halt and let him pass before following.

"He got away," Vincent shakes his head as he jogs along side Cloud, not having to go as fast because his legs are way longer. Me? I'm doing double time to even stay a few yards behind Cloud. "Yuffie's real bad," Vince says, frowning.

"How bad?" I ask nervously.

"Almost Aeris bad. But not quite," He says quietly, making us push further. I stop with a gasp.

"Yuffie." I whisper, reaching one hand helplessly out towards her.

"I've... been slightly impaled," Yuffie winces as she talks. A deep crimson blood stain seeps through her lower abdomen, right where her... womb would be... A little.. Nevermind. Just odd. I'm so weird...

"Shh, shh, stay still," Cloud hushes her, kneeling in front of her. "Actually, can you sit straight so I can see?"

She puffs her cheeks out as she exhales, failing to fight a cringe as she sits up slowly. Vincent leans casually against a tree, but you can see the worry in his eyes. He doesn't show much emotion, but if you know how, you can read those crimson irises like a book.

"Ouch," Cloud's brows scrunch together.

"I can't... I'm gonna.." Yuffie breathes faster.

"Yuffie?" Cloud tries to look into her eyes, but she shoves him weakly, knocking him to his bottom from his wobbly crouching position.

"Go away, Sephiroth!" she screams at him. I can see the hurt clear behind his eyes. Most people think that Aeris is his soft spot, but I think pretty much being related to a creepy alien woman thing and a crazy serial killer/monster is enough to depress him. But comparing sweet Cloud to Sephiroth?

"Yuffie!" I yell at her, and just as I suspected, her pupils are dilated to be black as she glares at me. "His blade must've been poisoned. Knock her out or something," I glance at Vince for help.

"Tifa!" both boys call to me as Yuffie makes a weak attempt to throw her Conformer. Vincent leaps forward while she's preoccupied and shoots me a guilty look before applying pressure to her open wound with his armored hand. She screams again before passing out.

"Let's get her back," Cloud scoops her up and nods for us to get the others. I begin a steady jog back but jealousy plants deep in my heart as I sneak a look back and catch Cloud giving Yuffie a soft peck on the forehead. This _cannot _be happening.

**HEY THERE PERSON! HOW'S IT GOIN? UNLESS YOU'RE NOT A PERSON, I GUESS THAT'S COOL TOO... HI! BYE!**


	7. Chapter 7

~Cloud's POV~

I run to the Highwind, Yuffie in my arms and all the others starting to catch up. No offense to her, but this kid weighs more than she looks. Cid jumps in front of me, tugging the door to the aircraft open, and I bolt inside. My heart is pounding. This is like Aeris all over again, only this time I have a chance to save her. And I don't want to lose another part of me. Everyone here is a part of me, so I can't afford to lose any of them. Vincent's long strides match up with mine.

"Is she going to be okay?" he asks.

"I hope so," I say, laying her on her back on the floor of the cockpit. "Barret!" I call. He pushes past Cait Sith and crouches by me.

"What's up?"

"I need Regen now," I command, feeling her neck for a pulse. Nothing. I panic. "Forget that, life two."

How did she practically die from a stab to the lower abdomen? She has bled a lot, but it wouldn't kill her this soon. Unless Sephiroth poisoned his sword with some sort of control mechanism... I glance over at Barret. Sephiroth could be controlling her life right now, her heartbeat, blood flow, everything. There's no guarantee that she'll even wake up. I shudder.

"It's no use," Barret shakes his head. His MP must be down... "Someone needs to restart her heart."

"I will. It kinda is my fault she was in the open alone," Vince swiftly kneels down and performs... CPR I think. I'm not very good with these things. After three or so minutes, we begin to lose hope. I guess I was right about her not waking up. Just as I stand to walk away so I don't end up crying or something, she coughs and takes a deep breath. I spin around and watch her brown eyes slide open, looking up at Vincent, who still hovers over her. We watch as she silently sits up, her wound already healed from Barret's go at reviving her. Then she looks at Vince, who by the way, is an inch or two from her face. Awkward!

"I swear, if you ever put your mouth on mine again," she jokes weakly.

Vincent bursts out laughing, and she pulls him into a hug, which he reluctantly returns. Then I stumble over to her and she practically leaps at me, wrapping her thin arms around my neck and hanging there. That's what she gets for being 5'2. Vincent looks down at us, an eyebrow raised. This is what I get for being 5'7. Yuffie drops down, cupping my face and turning it all over, looking for wounds, I guess.

"Did hurt you back there?" she asks, worriedly._ I wasn't worried about me back there, _I wanted to say, but someone might take that wrong, so I shake my head.

"Nope, but that dirt is hard packed stuff."

"Right?!" she smiles and releases me, this time tackling Barret and begging him for his materia. I laugh and shake my head. Tifa crosses her arms and looks at me as if slightly angry.

"What?" I ask her.

"You happy now that your girlfriend is alive?"

"Girlfriend?" I frown.

"Oh cmon Cloud, with what you said back there, everyone knows you like her. And a joke about dirt doesn't take away and suspicion."

"What are you talking about?" I furrow my brows.

"'I wasn't worried about me back there'? Really? If that isn't a romantic statement, I don't know what is."

"Okay, two things. One: I didn't mean it like that. If it was you or one if the guys, I probably would've said the same thing. Two: Why do you think Yuffie of all people?"

"I don't know, maybe because she likes you?" Tifa growls.

"This is stupid," I shake my head.

"I know it is," she continues to glare at me.

"We sound like a bunch of middle schoolers arguing over crushes or something."

"No, it's stupid because..."

I roll my eyes and walk away. This is ridiculous. Just because I saved my friend's life and she took what I said wrong, doesn't mean I'm interested in anyone like that. That'd just be weird.

"Yo Cloud, where's the box of materia?"

"How am I supposed to know?" I laugh at Barret, who is completely oblivious to Yuffie running out if the room, the chest tucked under her arm. He sighs and continues searching. I turn on my heel and silently follow the small girl. She turns into the chocobo room and stuffs to box under the hay.

"So that's where you keep it," I smile, leaning against the door frame.

"Holy poo!" she shrieks, jumping. "You scared me!"

"Why are you stashing it anyway?" I push off and poke at the haystack.

"Hey, hands off!" she swats my hand away. "And because right when I get the stuff high leveled, someone comes in and takes it."

"It's all of ours," I point out. "Don't you know how to share?" I tease her. She rolls her eyes

"Of course I know how to share," she scoffs. "Don't lecture me, mom."

"I am clearly not a woman," I pretend to my offended as I move my arms up and down around my body.

"Clearly isn't the word for it," Yuffie giggles.

"Yeah, okay" I scoff, crossing my arms and blocking the doorway.

"Hey, let me out!" she squeaks, trying to push past me. I shake my head.

"Not until you admit I am the prettiest man alive."

"Um, no thanks," she raises an eyebrow, trying to get by me still.

"Then no entry," I shake my head. I guess hanging out with Yuffie can be pretty fun. She's only a few years younger than me, so on easy days, we can mess around and be kids again. Not that we grew up together, but I guess it takes my mind off things.

"Fine," she sighs, exasperated. "Cloud, you are the prettiest man alive. Happy?"

"No, you have to scream that I am the prettiest man alive to the whole world," I tease. This is cracking me up.

"CLOUD STRIFE IS THE PRETTIEST MAN ALIVE, EVERYBODY!" she yells over my shoulder. "There, happy?" she raises an eyebrow at me.

"Good enough," I tease.

"You owe me," she rolls her eyes and ignores the stare she gets from Cid, who walked down the hall when he heard her yelling.

"Um... That was odd.." Cid shakes his head.

"Kids these days, right?" I tease.

"Totally," he nods, pulling out a small map from his back pocket. "But on a more serious note, we've located Sephiroth."

"Really? Where?" I walk over to his side and look at his map.

"A shop keeper in Kalm just reported a tall man with long gray hair to us. Dressed in black, super long sword thing, mean looking."

"How did he get there that fast," I frown, confused.

"We also got a report that one of the old Shinra aircrafts was taken."

"Are you sure they're not reporting you super late?"

"Positive, they couldn't care less about this old thing."

"So, let's go then!" I begin to walk to the cockpit.

"The thing is," Cid sighs, making me stop. "You can't come. Barret's orders."

"What!?" I yell, spinning to look at him. "Since when is he in charge?"

"Your little break downs I guess..."

But I'm already gone, taking long, angry strides toward to cockpit.

"Barret!" I yell, getting the attention if everyone, including the man I want to see. "What the heck!?"

"Cloud, we can't have one of yo little control issue things happen in the middle of the fight."

"You won't have to!" I yell.

"Listen, Cloud..."

"I'm the best chance you've got!" I yell in his face, ignoring all the looks I'm getting. I don't even know why I'm this mad, I guess I've just been bottling it up.

"No, you're not! In case you haven't noticed, you've been away for three years, and we've been protecting the city. You're probably already rusty at your fighting skills," he shoots back.

"What do you think I was doing all those years!" I shout, picking him up by his collar and slamming him against the wall. Since when can I carry this dude so easily?

"Moping about your dead girlfriend," he glares at me. "Which you couldn't save because you were too busy moping about your life."

"Cloud don't!" Tifa screams but I've already connected my fist to his jaw.

"For your information, Barret," I growl, picking him back up from off the floor. "I was living out in the real world, where there is no happy ending or peace."

I kick him on the stomach and he winces, not bothering to fight back.

"I fought for my life out there everyday! Don't you think I realize how weak I can be or how much my life sucks?! I struggle through it everyday! Don't rub it my face!" I push him down again before stepping back, satisfied and breathing heavily. He looks up, his nose bleeding and a bruise on his jaw.

"This is why we're not taking you," he spits before shoving me over and leaving the room.

OOO! CLOUD AND BARRET GOT IN A FIGHT! NOW I HAVE THAT P!NK SONG STUCK ON MY HEAD... WHATEVER. REVIEW BECAUSE YOU LOVE ME! OR CLOUD, WHATEVER.


	8. Chapter 8

~Barret's POV~

"Barret!" I hear Cloud yell, just ad I expected him to. "What the heck!?"

"Cloud, we can't have one of yo little control issue things happen in the middle of the fight." I look into his angry, now thundercloud gray, irises.

"You won't have to!" he yells.

"Listen, Cloud..." I start to explain.

"I'm the best chance you've got!" he yells in my face, ignoring all the looks he's getting. I don't even know why he's so upset, all he does is cause problems when Sephiroth controls him, it was never this bad.

"No, you're not! In case you haven't noticed, you've been away for three years, and we've been protecting the city. You're probably already rusty at your fighting skills," I shoot back.

"What do you think I was doing all those years!" he shouts, picking my up by my vest collar and slamming my head against the metal wall. I fight the urge to cringe and shove him off. His eyes aren't black. Cloud's in control.

"Moping about your dead girlfriend," I lose it, glaring at him. "Which you couldn't save because you were too busy moping about your life."

"Cloud don't!" Tifa screams but he's already balled up a fist and smashed it into my jaw, releasing my shirt so I fall to the floor.

"For your information, Barret," he growls, picking me back up from off the floor like I'm a doll. "I was living out in the real world, where there is no happy ending or peace."

He kicks me in the stomach and I wince, not bothering to fight back. Who knows what he'll do then. Probably bust out his sword.

"I fought for my life out there everyday! Don't you think I realize how weak I can be or how much my life sucks?! I struggle through it everyday! Don't rub it my face!" He pushes me down to the floor and huffs, breathing heavily. I want to shoot this guys guts right now, honestly.

"This is why we're not taking you," I spit before shoving him over and leaving the room. There see? I could've whipped his butt if I wanted to. But I wouldn't do it in front of Tifa. Who knows what crap I'd have to deal with from her if I punched him back, kicked him in the stomach, or slammed him against a wall. I'm already gonna get a mouthful for putting him down. I kinds did set him off, but I doubt he would've avoided hitting me if he could. Actually, that's the first time he's legit hit me.

I hear Tifa's heavy boots stomping after me and know what's coming.

"I know I set him off, I don't need to be reminded." I growl, still walking.

"I wasn't going to remind you," I hear a steady voice say. I look behind me.

"Sorry Yuffie, thought you were..."

"Tifa? I'd rather be a fish," she snorts.

"Hey," I warn playfully. "She's not that bad. After ten or so years that is," I add.

"Psh, I've been with her for four and I can't stand her," she shudders.

"Cmon, is there anyway you two could become friends?"

"No," she shakes her head. "We literally have nothing in common."

"Not even one thing?" I raise my eyebrow.

"Uh, well," she blushes madly and shakes her head furiously. "N-No."

"Hmm... Well I'd say you two do happen to like the same thing," I hint to Tifa's mad crush, the devil himself, Cloud Strife. The man that's been a blessing and a curse in my life since day one. Right now, he's the dirtiest curse word that could ever slip past my lips.

"Shh!" she claps a hand over my mouth and shakes her head. "And no, it's just that she's right there," she nods behind us.

I turn to look but see nothing, so I look back and guess who's missing? That little ninja child. I smirk to myself and shake my head. Who in their right mind would have a crush on that spikey butt? (A/N I GUESS I'M NOT RIGHT IN THE HEAD THEN...) I climb the stairs up to the balcony area thing and tug open the door. I glance around and spot her short hair and the knives that hold it back, leaning slightly over the railing, the wind blowing in her face.

"So," I stand beside her. She glances up, her face still slightly pink. "About that crush..."

"Hold that thought she says, holding up a finger and vomiting over the side of the aircraft. " I hope that hits someone on the head," she giggles lightly before looking back at me.

"I said..."

"I'm fully aware of what you said," she smirks. "I just think it's hilarious how you think you're so right when you're so far off."

"So... Vincent then?"

"Why does everyone say that?"she sighs. " One: He's fifty something on the inside. Two: He's pretty flipping tall. Three: I only call him a bazillion times a day to annoy him. It's so funny!" she laughs.

"You're..."

"Hang on," she pukes again, right as we pass over the city of Wutai. "Love you daddy!" she yells though he probably won't hear her. Then she looks at me. "Continue."

"You're disgusting," I shake my head.

"Thought so," she grins.

"Landing!" Cid calls out to the rest of us in the cockpit, already armored up and materia placed. I look at Cloud, who stands in the back doorway, his arms crossed and jaw clenched tightly.

"Vincent," I mutter to the tall, dark man next to me. "Can you go tell Cloud to stay here. I guarantee he won't, but he'll probably try to take me down again if I talk to him."

"You're scared if a fight," he raises an eyebrow.

"No, but I wouldn't mind pumping dome lead into his veins right now." I grit.

"Understandable," he nods, taking long strides to the butthole that's making my day awful. It's dark and all I want to do is sleep. Vince leans against the doorframe next to Cloud, who glances up at him from the corner of his eye. Vince begins to talk and Cloud replies. rolling his eyes. Vince chuckles lightly and shake this head, looking at the floor briefly, kicking at the tiles. Cloud smiles slightly and says something to which Vincent continues to tell him my order, I'll bet he twisted it.

"Barret," Cait Sith hops to my side. "Do you think we'll actually see Sephiroth today?"

"He hadn't move from his current location. It's like he wants us to find him," Tifa answers for me.

"What if leaving Cloud behind is what he wants," Yuffie wonder aloud.

"I don't think so," I shake my head. "He would probably hope Cloud was coming for revenge for the whole Yuffie incident earlier."

"I'm sure," Tifa tenses.

"I don't think he'd want revenge because of that," Yuffie shakes her head. "It's probably the thought of losing someone close. I mean, he's gone through it his whole life, you'd think he'd be used to the feeling by now. But I don't think death is just something you can get over. It's like a fire, it will always burn when you touch it."

"Who would've thought wise words would've cone from that mouth," I hear Vincent behind me.

"Oh, shut up, Vin," Yuffie scoffs. "I grew up in an emperor's home, I had plenty of education."

"That I'm sure was put to waste," he rolls his red eyes.

"Some, yes. Like geometry. I still don't know how to calculate the area of a square," she sighs. "I'm just not cut out for that sort of thing."

"Alright, we are landed. Let's get a move on!" Cid calls to us.

I wave over my head for the whole group to follow me. I convinced Cid easily to stay behind with Cloud. Which, speaking of that guy, is a whole lot better at this than me. Who goes in what group? Who's a better teammate to have with another...? I shrug the thought off as we wander into the night.

~Cloud's POV~

I glare at my shoes. Cid pulls out a cigarette.

"Why didn't you go?" I ask him.

"Eh, I'm gettin' old," he shrugs. Then he holds up his lit cigarette. "Plus I haven't had a good smoke in a while."

I watch him puff out white-gray smoke before speaking.

"He wants you to babysit me, doesn't he?" I growl.

"Not exactly, but on the right track," he admits with a shrug. "You aren't exactly a child."

"Then why are you forcing me to stay?" I say, erasing the streak Vince made on the floor with the tip of my boot.

"I can't force you to do anything. But I can make you try to think about what's best for you and the others in this situation."

I snort and glare at the floor. I don't k own what came over me earlier. Sure, the yelling was probably expected, but actually hitting one of my best friends? I didn't hear the ringing or feel different, but I felt as if a part of me wasn't... Me. Cid eventually stomps the butt out and kicks it under a control console.

"So you can't force me to stay?" I raise my eyebrows.

"No one can ever force you to do anything. Heck, if you tried hard enough, I think you would be able to fight those break downs Sephiroth gives you."

"I've tried, trust me."

"You've gotta have faith, boy. Trust that you'll push past it, that you can do it and remove all discouraging thoughts! That's how it's done!" he smiles to himself. This dude is going insane. Maybe it's just his age, even if he is only 42.

"I'll try it sometime," I sigh. "In the meantime, I'm stuck here." Or maybe I'm not, a small part of me says. I smirk and stand, slowly making my way towards the door.

"Cloud, I wouldn't do that, boy," Cid nods to the lance in his hand.

"Or what? You'll turn me into a shish kabob?" I sneer.

"That man has a serious hold on you," Cid shakes his head before chucking the pointed stick at me. It hooks through the drape on my left arm and pins it to the wall. I don't have Geostigma anymore, I don't know why I still wear it.

"You can't go," he shakes his head. "Barret's orders."

"Since when is Barret in charge?" I whine. Sure, hr was in charge of the original terrorist group called Avalanche, but I've always been in charge of the second Avalanche, the stronger and more effective one.

"Since you disappeared three years ago," Cid says quietly. Is it really wrong to hide away and cry over your life for a few years? Why are these people giving me crap about it?! I kept in touch with Cid, though he keeps it a secret. He actually bought me food from time to time and delivered it in the Highwind. And he was one of the people I thought cared. I tug my arm out if the drape, revealing my bare skin, only the pink ribbon covering a portion of my left arm.

"Now you're gonna..." I start.

"Cloud," Cid interrupts, looking at my arm. I look down and gasp inaudibly. Black spots, almost like a dark rash cover the top portion of my arm. The Geostigma is back somehow. And I'm it's first victim.

~Time Skip~

"You can't just march in there to save someone who don't wanna be saved!" Barret lectures.

"I saved you guys' life, you could at least thank me," I roll my eyes.

"Thank you? For what? Nearly getting your butt beat?"

"Excuse me sir, but I'm perfectly fine!" I glare at him while Yuffie swiped at my face with a cloth soaked in alcohol.

"You tell me this with blood gushing from your face?" Barret rolls his eyes.

"Whatever, go tend to whatever you have to attend to," I scoff.

"So immature," he shakes his head. No, I'm just not old, I want to fire back. But I keep my mouth shut and focus on the stinging pain Yuffie is causing throughout my cheek. Right after I saw my arm, I had torn the door open and made a run for it to find my friends. And I found them alright. Almost dead and getting beat miserably. Barret had set up a terrible battle plan. I arrived just as Sephiroth took Vincent out, and that pulled me straight into battle. He got a good slice on my cheek and I got a good whack at his left leg. Then he said The time has not yet come for you to join me, and then was gone. Creepy. I shudder at the sound of his voice and brush the thought away for later.

"Done!" Yuffie jumps back. I look at my face in the mirror. A long, thin scar down the right side of my face replaces the deep, bleeding gash. I smile and yawn.

"I'm so tired," I shake my head.

"Me to," she stretches her arms over her head. "Lucky for me, you're my last 'Patient'."

"Let's go!" I grab her wrist and tug her to her feet right after she plops down on the floor.

"Cloud!" she groans.

"Cmon!"

We walk to the bunk room. Tifa is on top of one, Vince on the bottom of another. RedIIX is on top, Cait Sith on the bottom. I sit in the bottom part of Tifa's and Yuffie races to the top of Vince's. I laugh even he groans in frustration, pulling his blanket over his face. Tifa drops a boot from the top and it lands on my lap.

"Ow!" I wince as she drops another.

"You can put those on the floor." she smirks.

"No, I was gonna snuggle with them." I roll my eyes.

"Shh!" Yuffie hushes us and rolls over to face the wall.

"Vincent needs his beauty sleep," Tifa laughs.

Vincent sits up and leans against the wall by his bed.

"It's good for his complexion," I chuckle, laying down.

Vincent puts to hands under his chin and tilts his head to the side, giving me the dorkiest smile I've ever seen. Tifa bursts out laugh and he immediately blushes, returning his face to normality. It's not everyday we see a playful Vince. Yuffie puts her fingers to her mouth and whistles really loudly.

"I said shut it!"

I roll my eyes, a smile still on my lips, and pull the covers up to my chin. Sleep tugs me in... And shoves me out hours later. I wake up, gasping for breath and sweating. I push my self up, leaning on my elbows. I hear a creak of a bed and mine shakes a little. Then I see a dark shape looking at me.

"Cloud?" Tifa whispers. "You okay?"

"Fine," I mutter back.

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

"Okay," She nods, starting to climb back up.

"Tifa?"

"Hmm?"

"Stay?"

"I'd never leave you," she smiles, climbing in next to me and snuggling into my chest.


	9. Chapter 9

~Tifa's POV~

Cloud hangs behind me and Vincent, glaring at all the building replicas that were built throughout the town. All the actors are in their house, waiting for Cloud to try and question them again, to which they'll give confusing answers to mess his mind up. I shake my head slightly, a few strands of hair falling into my face. I blow them away and continue walking towards the old Shinra Mansion.

I can't express into words the hatred burning in my soul right now. Towards Yuffie, towards the Turks, even slightly towards Cloud. No matter how much I try to express how much I love him, he doesn't feel it back, doesn't care, and I highly doubt he'll make an effort to make me feel better about it. I'm pretty sure Yuffie pulled some sort of act to make him carry her. I mean, she is Yuffie after all, and this is so stressful.

"Here for the Turks?" some random woman in a black dress asks us at the door. I look back at Cloud, who still looks lost in thought and slightly angry.

"Cloud," I get his attention. His head jerks up and his crystalline blue eyes meet mine. I nod my head towards the woman with my eyebrows raised and he pushes past Vincent, who looks around curiously, as if sucking it all into his memory. He told me once that going new places is like torture for him. He takes it all in and it becomes another burden for him. He told me that he ends up feeling the pain of every place he goes, whatever that means. I kinda get it here. This is where we first met him, where he decided to join us in the fight to save the world.

"Yeah," he answers her. She nods and leads us through the front doors. Two men, I'm assuming from the 'New Shinra', hold out their hands to us.

"Weapons," the bigger man says. Cloud tosses his heavy sword to one of the men, who nearly drops it.

"Easy, that's one of a kind, you know," he hides a smirk. "Don't break it."

"I'll try," the man frowns at me. I raise an eyebrow.

"Got something against gloves?" I hold up my hands and wiggle my fingers.

"I have something against gloves that could help draw blood. Hand em over," the bigger man holds out his hand.

I sigh and toss them at the guy. they hit him in the chest and flop down into his arms. Vincent basically shoves the man as he pushes his gun into his face. The man actually looks a little intimidated. He should be, I mean, Vincent is tall, dark, mysterious, scary, caring, and attractive all rolled into one. I shake my head at my thoughts. Don't get me wrong, I think Cloud and Reno Sinclair are pretty attractive too. Okay, hot. Three hot dudes, but I love Cloud with my dark soul, so we'll leave it at that. (HEHE, DARK XD)

"Let me show you to the meeting room," the woman nods, looking a little frightened. She should be, we've had a crappy last few days. I'm going to blow up if I don't punch someone soon. Please ignore that statement.

"We know where it is," Cloud mutters.

"It's very unprofessional of me to let you wander around by yourselves," she shakes her head.

I give Vincent a look, which he returns to some extent. Most of his facial expressions are the same, with slight differences occasionally. What you really have to look at is his eyes. Those eyes speak wonders.

"Here you are!" She says, opening the door.

"Finally," Reno scoffs, his ankles crossed on top of the table. "Sit down, I guess." He waves to the two torn up chairs in front of the desk he's seated at.

"I'll stand," Vincent mutters next to my ear.

It takes me a moment to understand. Oh. Right. Two chairs. Three people. Though I could probably share a chair IF SOMEONE WASN'T BEING SUCH A BUTTHOLE. COUGH CLOUD COUGH. I sit in one of the chairs, wincing as one of the bare springs digs into my thigh.

"So, I'm assuming you got the call," Reno fiddles with the metal rod in his hand.

"Why else would they be here?" Rude raises an eyebrow.

"I don't know, maybe Vinnie forgot something in the basement?" He shrugs. Vincent grunts, unamused.

"Why do you want to become our allies all of a sudden?" Cloud frowns.

"Sephiroth. We thought he was dead too. Been messin' with some of the Turks' heads. Pretty much because we want him... redead." Reno cocks his head to the side. "Wait, is that even a word?"

Rude face palms and shakes his head. I feel bad for the guy, he has to work with this idiot. (A/N A VERY HOT IDIOT! OKAY, CONTINUE) Vincent raises an eyebrow and blinks blankly.

"Anyway," Reno shakes his head, making the spikey red hair on top of his hair fluff up even more. "We would like to help you kill Sephiroth dead."

"We don't even know why he's alive," I shake my head. "Last time it had to do with Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo."

"Ah yes, Cloud's brothers," Reno smirks at Cloud. "The remnants."

"If Sephiroth is alive, why can't the Remnants?" Rude looks at me.

"But why?" I ask.

"I said, they could be alive. There's a good chance..."

"She said why, you dimwits," Vincent says loudly, frustrated.

"How are we supposed to know?" Reno shrugs. "That's why we simply avoided the question, Vinnie."

"Don't call me that," Vince snarls.

"What? You didn't mind it when you were a Turk."

"You weren't even in Shinra when I was a Turk," Vincent's voice returns to a dangerous calm that gives me goosebumps.

"Right." Rude interrupts him. "But back to Cloud's brothers."

"They're not my brothers," Cloud scoffs.

"I'm sure," Reno rolls his eyes with his famous smirk. "How do we know you're not a monster just like them? You could easily pass as one of them, being related to Sephiroth and all..."

"Reno," Rude warns.

"I'm not related to him," Cloud's voice is tense. "Yeah, okay, pretty boy," Reno continues to wear that face that makes a girl blush and a guy want to stab him at the same time. "But I'm positive you and Sephiroth could be related. You're both internal monsters."

Before anyone can react, Cloud's on him like a cat, pressing his thumbs harshly into Reno's throat. I jump and Vincent stands. Rude just sits there in shock while Reno fights for air, chucking noises filling the room. "He's gonna kill him!" I shriek at Rude. He seems to wake up and tries to pry Cloud's fingers away.

"Vince, get Cloud, I'll get Reno."

Vincent nods, putting both his hands under Cloud's arms and tugging while I wrap mine around Reno's waist and pull. Vince gives up and pries Cloud's thumbs away easily. Reno gasps for breath and I press against his chest hard, forcing him to sit back in his chair. Two thumb shaped, dark purple bruises rest above his collar bone, standing out greatly against Reno's pale skin. His face finally goes from light blue to white again as he breathes deeply. I look to my side to see Vincent struggling to get out from underneath Cloud, who is just laying on top of him, looking pretty mad.

"Little help," Vincent winces.

"Here," I hold out my hand to Cloud, who completely ignores it and stands on his own.

"Get him out," Reno says weakly.

"I'm not going," Cloud glares at him.

"Oh yes, I think you're done for the day," Vincent roughly grabs his arm and opens the door, pushing him out, slamming it closed, and locking it.

"Was that really necessary?" Reno rubs his neck.

"I'm beyond done with him," Vincent shakes his head. "He can be such a brat sometimes, especially when he thinks he's better than everyone. Sometimes he needs to be put in his place."

"That is true," I nod, rolling my eyes.

"Okay, so... Are we allies or not?" Reno grimaces as he looks at himself in a small mirror he pulls out of his pocket. I should've known he carried around a mirror of all things.

"Vince?" I raise an eyebrow.

"The leader is supposed to make that decision," he shakes his head.

"In case you haven't noticed," Reno butts in. "Your leader is on the brink if insanity at the moment. Please take his place."

"Fine, fine," Vincent looks down at his hands, which are folded together loosely.

"Can we hurry up," Rude sighs.

"I'm thinking!" Vincent glares at him. Then he sighs, shaking his head. "Fine. But if you try anything..."

"We won't. I swear," Reno shakes his head. "We'll give you a call as soon as we find anything out."

"Thank you," I smile, relieved. Reno can be such a difficult person, a real jerk sometimes, but he can also be funny, kind, and generous when he wants to be. He has a semi hidden soft side.

"No problem," he smiles widely. "And um," he adds. "Make sure to calm that kid down before he leaves. Don't want him taking down the big guys."

"Those are the big guys?" Vincent raises an eyebrow.

"No, we are, duh!" Reno sticks out his tongue playfully but pulls it back in when Vincent's unamused face stays the same. "Not really, none of us here are. You should know that, Vinnie."

"Have a good day," I nod, literally pushing Vince out the door.

"Thanks," he looks down at me gratefully.

"No problem. Now let's go find..."

I pause looking at the disaster around us. Blood, bodies, knocked over furniture, smashed glass... It's a mess.

"Cloud," Vincent barely whispers under his breath.

"He wouldn't do something like this," I shake my head in disbelief.

"Lately he's been doing a lot of things he'd never do," Vincent walks ahead briskly, following the blood stains. It reminds me of the time we followed the red smears through the Shinra building to find Jenova. I shudder, disgusted by the thought. But when we turn a corner, we find Cloud standing at the the end of the hall, looking out the broken down front door in shock, where the stains continue.

"Cloud?" I whimper, practically hiding behind Vincents worn red cape.

"I didn't do it, I swear," he turns at looks at us, but the buster sword in his hand causes severe doubt. He furrows his brows. "You don't trust me, do you?" he sighs. "I don't trust me either." And just like that, he's gone.

DO YOU THINK CLOUD DID IT? REVIEWS? PLEASE? I BEG OF YOU!

"


	10. Chapter 10

~Tifa's POV~

Cloud hangs behind me and Vincent, glaring at all the building replicas that were built throughout the town. All the actors are in their house, waiting for Cloud to try and question them again, to which they'll give confusing answers to mess his mind up. I shake my head slightly, a few strands of hair falling into my face. I blow them away and continue walking towards the old Shinra Mansion.

I can't express into words the hatred burning in my soul right now. Towards Yuffie, towards the Turks, even slightly towards Cloud. No matter how much I try to express how much I love him, he doesn't feel it back, doesn't care, and I highly doubt he'll make an effort to make me feel better about it. I'm pretty sure Yuffie pulled some sort of act to make him carry her. I mean, she is Yuffie after all, and this is so stressful.

"Here for the Turks?" some random woman in a black dress asks us at the door. I look back at Cloud, who still looks lost in thought and slightly angry.

"Cloud," I get his attention. His head jerks up and his crystalline blue eyes meet mine. I nod my head towards the woman with my eyebrows raised and he pushes past Vincent, who looks around curiously, as if sucking it all into his memory. He told me once that going new places is like torture for him. He takes it all in and it becomes another burden for him. He told me that he ends up feeling the pain of every place he goes, whatever that means. I kinda get it here. This is where we first met him, where he decided to join us in the fight to save the world.

"Yeah," he answers her. She nods and leads us through the front doors. Two men, I'm assuming from the 'New Shinra', hold out their hands to us.

"Weapons," the bigger man says. Cloud tosses his heavy sword to one of the men, who nearly drops it.

"Easy, that's one of a kind, you know," he hides a smirk. "Don't break it."

"I'll try," the man frowns at me. I raise an eyebrow.

"Got something against gloves?" I hold up my hands and wiggle my fingers.

"I have something against gloves that could help draw blood. Hand em over," the bigger man holds out his hand.

I sigh and toss them at the guy. they hit him in the chest and flop down into his arms. Vincent basically shoves the man as he pushes his gun into his face. The man actually looks a little intimidated. He should be, I mean, Vincent is tall, dark, mysterious, scary, caring, and attractive all rolled into one. I shake my head at my thoughts. Don't get me wrong, I think Cloud and Reno Sinclair are pretty attractive too. Okay, hot. Three hot dudes, but I love Cloud with my dark soul, so we'll leave it at that. (HEHE, DARK XD)

"Let me show you to the meeting room," the woman nods, looking a little frightened. She should be, we've had a crappy last few days. I'm going to blow up if I don't punch someone soon. Please ignore that statement.

"We know where it is," Cloud mutters.

"It's very unprofessional of me to let you wander around by yourselves," she shakes her head.

I give Vincent a look, which he returns to some extent. Most of his facial expressions are the same, with slight differences occasionally. What you really have to look at is his eyes. Those eyes speak wonders.

"Here you are!" She says, opening the door.

"Finally," Reno scoffs, his ankles crossed on top of the table. "Sit down, I guess." He waves to the two torn up chairs in front of the desk he's seated at.

"I'll stand," Vincent mutters next to my ear.

It takes me a moment to understand. Oh. Right. Two chairs. Three people. Though I could probably share a chair IF SOMEONE WASN'T BEING SUCH A BUTTHOLE. COUGH CLOUD COUGH. I sit in one of the chairs, wincing as one of the bare springs digs into my thigh.

"So, I'm assuming you got the call," Reno fiddles with the metal rod in his hand.

"Why else would they be here?" Rude raises an eyebrow.

"I don't know, maybe Vinnie forgot something in the basement?" He shrugs. Vincent grunts, unamused.

"Why do you want to become our allies all of a sudden?" Cloud frowns.

"Sephiroth. We thought he was dead too. Been messin' with some of the Turks' heads. Pretty much because we want him... redead." Reno cocks his head to the side. "Wait, is that even a word?"

Rude face palms and shakes his head. I feel bad for the guy, he has to work with this idiot. (A/N A VERY HOT IDIOT! OKAY, CONTINUE) Vincent raises an eyebrow and blinks blankly.

"Anyway," Reno shakes his head, making the spikey red hair on top of his hair fluff up even more. "We would like to help you kill Sephiroth dead."

"We don't even know why he's alive," I shake my head. "Last time it had to do with Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo."

"Ah yes, Cloud's brothers," Reno smirks at Cloud. "The remnants."

"If Sephiroth is alive, why can't the Remnants?" Rude looks at me.

"But why?" I ask.

"I said, they could be alive. There's a good chance..."

"She said why, you dimwits," Vincent says loudly, frustrated.

"How are we supposed to know?" Reno shrugs. "That's why we simply avoided the question, Vinnie."

"Don't call me that," Vince snarls.

"What? You didn't mind it when you were a Turk."

"You weren't even in Shinra when I was a Turk," Vincent's voice returns to a dangerous calm that gives me goosebumps.

"Right." Rude interrupts him. "But back to Cloud's brothers."

"They're not my brothers," Cloud scoffs.

"I'm sure," Reno rolls his eyes with his famous smirk. "How do we know you're not a monster just like them? You could easily pass as one of them, being related to Sephiroth and all..."

"Reno," Rude warns.

"I'm not related to him," Cloud's voice is tense. "Yeah, okay, pretty boy," Reno continues to wear that face that makes a girl blush and a guy want to stab him at the same time. "But I'm positive you and Sephiroth could be related. You're both internal monsters."

Before anyone can react, Cloud's on him like a cat, pressing his thumbs harshly into Reno's throat. I jump and Vincent stands. Rude just sits there in shock while Reno fights for air, chucking noises filling the room. "He's gonna kill him!" I shriek at Rude. He seems to wake up and tries to pry Cloud's fingers away.

"Vince, get Cloud, I'll get Reno."

Vincent nods, putting both his hands under Cloud's arms and tugging while I wrap mine around Reno's waist and pull. Vince gives up and pries Cloud's thumbs away easily. Reno gasps for breath and I press against his chest hard, forcing him to sit back in his chair. Two thumb shaped, dark purple bruises rest above his collar bone, standing out greatly against Reno's pale skin. His face finally goes from light blue to white again as he breathes deeply. I look to my side to see Vincent struggling to get out from underneath Cloud, who is just laying on top of him, looking pretty mad.

"Little help," Vincent winces.

"Here," I hold out my hand to Cloud, who completely ignores it and stands on his own.

"Get him out," Reno says weakly.

"I'm not going," Cloud glares at him.

"Oh yes, I think you're done for the day," Vincent roughly grabs his arm and opens the door, pushing him out, slamming it closed, and locking it.

"Was that really necessary?" Reno rubs his neck.

"I'm beyond done with him," Vincent shakes his head. "He can be such a brat sometimes, especially when he thinks he's better than everyone. Sometimes he needs to be put in his place."

"That is true," I nod, rolling my eyes.

"Okay, so... Are we allies or not?" Reno grimaces as he looks at himself in a small mirror he pulls out of his pocket. I should've known he carried around a mirror of all things.

"Vince?" I raise an eyebrow.

"The leader is supposed to make that decision," he shakes his head.

"In case you haven't noticed," Reno butts in. "Your leader is on the brink if insanity at the moment. Please take his place."

"Fine, fine," Vincent looks down at his hands, which are folded together loosely.

"Can we hurry up," Rude sighs.

"I'm thinking!" Vincent glares at him. Then he sighs, shaking his head. "Fine. But if you try anything..."

"We won't. I swear," Reno shakes his head. "We'll give you a call as soon as we find anything out."

"Thank you," I smile, relieved. Reno can be such a difficult person, a real jerk sometimes, but he can also be funny, kind, and generous when he wants to be. He has a semi hidden soft side.

"No problem," he smiles widely. "And um," he adds. "Make sure to calm that kid down before he leaves. Don't want him taking down the big guys."

"Those are the big guys?" Vincent raises an eyebrow.

"No, we are, duh!" Reno sticks out his tongue playfully but pulls it back in when Vincent's unamused face stays the same. "Not really, none of us here are. You should know that, Vinnie."

"Have a good day," I nod, literally pushing Vince out the door.

"Thanks," he looks down at me gratefully.

"No problem. Now let's go find..."

I pause looking at the disaster around us. Blood, bodies, knocked over furniture, smashed glass... It's a mess.

"Cloud," Vincent barely whispers under his breath.

"He wouldn't do something like this," I shake my head in disbelief.

"Lately he's been doing a lot of things he'd never do," Vincent walks ahead briskly, following the blood stains. It reminds me of the time we followed the red smears through the Shinra building to find Jenova. I shudder, disgusted by the thought. But when we turn a corner, we find Cloud standing at the the end of the hall, looking out the broken down front door in shock, where the stains continue.

"Cloud?" I whimper, practically hiding behind Vincents worn red cape.

"I didn't do it, I swear," he turns at looks at us, but the buster sword in his hand causes severe doubt. He furrows his brows. "You don't trust me, do you?" he sighs. "I don't trust me either." And just like that, he's gone.

DO YOU THINK CLOUD DID IT? REVIEWS? PLEASE? I BEG OF YOU!

"


	11. Chapter 11

~Vincent's POV~

I don't trust me either. Cloud's words ring through my head as he leaves. My gaze immediately flickers from the floor to where he was. How did he know...? It was probably just a coincidence, but I can't help but register that memory into my mind.

"Stay away, I'm a monster now, Lucrecia," I shake my head, backing away.

"I know. I made you that way, remember?" she plops down on a flat boulder. She's thought she was dead and gone, yet somehow I'm here with her. Maybe it's a dream. Maybe I'm dead. Or maybe Chaos is making me hallucinate. Either way, she's already told me I'm unconscious in the bottom of Shinra Mansion, where Hojo tested me and threw me away like trash.

"It saved my life."

"I thought you didn't want life?" she raises an eyebrow at me. I sigh, ruffling one hand through my elongating hair. It used to be so short, but the coma... it sort of took over.

"I didn't. I don't, I mean," I shake my head.

"I've turned you into something you're not. And I'm sorry Vincent."

"Don't be," I shrug, plopping down next to her. "Hojo killed you." she shakes her head.

"He can't kill you," I look up at her. "Jenova cells."

"Not the point," she looks at her feet.

"The point is that I don't want you to trust me. I could blow up any minute and not know who you are. And hurt you."

"Don't worry," she stands, starting to walk away.

"About what?" I frown, standing.

"I don't trust you." She barely spares a glance as she disappears into a thick, white mist.

"I don't trust me either," I shake my head.

I take a deep breath and blink slowly. Then I look back up at Tifa. She looks confused, starring blanket at the spot where Cloud once stood. I absent mindedly place a hand on her shoulder. Her head swiftly turns to me, eyeing my hand before looking up at me. I shake my head and glance behind me, where we just came from. She seems to understand, despite my silence. I think I've talked more in the past week than I have in the past decade. I release her shoulder and follow behind her.

In some ways, Tifa reminds me of Lucrecia. Long hair, thin but strong. Smart. Pretty. Easy to get along with, for the most part. The only difference is I won't let Tifa give herself away to scientific experiments and have a demonic son that won't freaking die and leave freaking Cloud freaking alone. I sigh and try to shake the thoughts away. Tifa wouldn't go that if it meant saving the world. Okay, scratch that, she would. But I wouldn't let her. It'd be like living my nightmares all over again. And I can't let that happen again. I'm already practically immortal, but that doesn't mean I don't feel pain, physical or emotional. Tifa glances back at me and then turns away, still walking. I look back down at the ground. She must've caught me staring.

"It leads to the second floor," she mumbles quietly. I remain silent and follow her up the two short sets of stairs.

"And back to the basement," she whispers in disbelief as we find the not-so-secret door open. I habitually feel my holster for my gun, but nothing is there. Tifa does the same, only she reaches up to her wrists to adjust the straps of her gloves.

"Shoot," she mutters. "They took our weapons."

Where are those two dimwits when you need them? I shake my head and step in front of her, making sure the semi rotted steps are stable. The first one creaks in protest, but holds my weight just fine. I nod to her and begin to test the stairs, one by one. Tifa manages to keep her balance and not fall through the middle to the bottom despite the grime and lack of railing. What kind of idiot builds a three story tall stair case to a wet basement with no rail? Oh, that's right, Shinra does.

We step off the last of the stairs and creep silently through the old basement. The walls have turned slightly purpler since the list time I was here, which was years ago. I spend most of my time in the crystal cave where we found Lucrecia, living inside a pure mako crystal. She disappeared after that. I eventually came back to tell her the truth about Sephiroth, only to find the Death Penalty, and many other useful objects that she had left behind.

Tifa swiftly avoids tripping over a stone and stumbles into me. I catch her underneath her arms and tip her back onto her feet. Then we continue. I try to be as quiet as possible, because we don't want to wake the vampire bats, but I don't have to worry as soon as we reach the pushed open door of the Mansion Study, next to the room I laid asleep for years, and the very room Cloud was trapped for a couple years with his friend Zack. More like Idol.

Did I just say I don't have to worry? Who am I kidding? I may not be the toughest man to take down, but we're both unarmed and following a trail of fresh blood in a dark basement. Wherever dark basement and blood are put together, nothing ends well. I here the faint sound of a chuckle and sweep out one side if my deep red cloak, stopping Tifa in her tracks. I close my eyes, listening harder. There it is again. I move my cape and sneak behind a stack of books. Tifa follows, crouching in front of me so she can see. I shuffle back slightly to step on something soft. I whip my head around, probably hitting Tifa in the face with my hair, to see Reno and Rude huddled behind us. My pounding heart slows a little. Idiots.

"Why are you here?" Reno whispers rudely.

"Shh," I hold a finger to my lips.

"Are you plotting evilly against us?" He smirks.

"Hush?" Tifa hisses.

"Okay, okay. They're probably Sephiroth anyway." he rolls his eyes.

"Sephiroth has the oddest plots," Rude mutters.

"Shh!" I feel my eyes widen as a shadow grows behind him.

"Mwahaha Mother! I'm going to destroy the world with a REALLY BIG ROCK!" Reno laughs at his impression as I sit here, frozen in shock.

"What a nice impression of me, Turk," A dark voice says, the smirk evident in his voice. "Now please, would you be so kind as to be my example of why people don't mock me?"

Reno rolls out of the way to barley a escape a stab. Sephiroth laughs darkly and snaps his gloved fingers. Three people come running from the room beside us. Loz, Kadaj, and Yazoo. I clench my jaw and glare up at them. Kadaj just sends me a menacing grin.

"How nice of you to join us," Tifa spits.

"Would you like sugar in your tea, darling?" Reno says sarcastically, the flatness evident in his voice.

"Only if you're the sugar to my tea," Yazoo smirks.

"That's disgusting," Reno swings his rod at him, electric shock stinging through Yazoo's arm.

"Four to four, I'd say it's fair," Sephiroth smirks down at me and Tifa. I stand slowly, keeping her behind me. If this guy was any taller, I'd be looking up. We're about the same height, making it hard for either of us to stare each other down.

"Materia," I hear Tifa mutter softly. I give the slightest flap of my cloak in response. She seems to understand and begins to Fire 3 the crap out of Loz. I jump a swift swing of the Masamune ,or whatever his ridiculously long sword's name is, landing on the blade for a split second before leaping to the top of a tall stack of literature. The great thing about being infused with a demon like monster's cells is I can do superhuman things like jump really highly and far and... well, we all remember the time when I looked like a flying blankie trying to save Cloud's butt from these guys.

"Leaping around the room like a bug isn't going to save you, Valentine," Sephiroth grits, kicking my books over. Of course, that was a very expected move, so I managed to jump out of the way, performing a perfected front flip and stopping my slight slide back.

"Happen to have an extra pistol or something?" I call back to Reno and Rude, rolling out of the way of a blow. I'm being completely ineffective at eliminating this guy, just feeding his humor.

"Sure thing, Vinnie," Reno says, performing some sort of kicking move at Yazoo, who raises his eyebrows and moves at an inhumane speed.

Reno tosses me a gun just as I give Sephiroth here a good kick in the gut. He barley winces as my metal shoe connects with his rock hard abdomen. I catch the simple gun, not checking to see if it's loaded properly, and shoot. Sephiroth manages to avoid the shots or block them with his thin blade. I groan in frustration before swing my legs out, knocking the tall man over, his weapon skittering away. I press the tips of my feet to his wrists, preventing him from standing, but leaving his long legs dangerously free. I've got limited time. But even as I aim the gun at his head, he grins. I harden my glare and my body goes rigged.

"Are you sure Cloud would want you to finish me off?"

"Cloud's not here right now," I shoot back, not missing a beat.

"Are you sure you're making the right choice, Vincent?" he says darkly.

"What do you mean?" Everything intensifies, the pressure of my feet, my glare, my grip on the weapon in my hands, everything

"Would Lucrecia want you to kill her only son?"

Everything loosens at her name. She's gone, wishing for death one somewhere, haunted because of what her son has done to the world. And now he's back. And I couldn't care less about her opinion on this one. Sorry Lucrecia.

"Yes," I grit my teeth together and pull the trigger quickly. Nothing happens. Sephiroth looks at me successfully. I pull and pull, but nothing happens still. I frown, confused, but Sephiroth takes that one moment my guard was down to take me down. He kicks the weapon from my hand, reaches for his sword, and knocks me over. I don't even struggle, his body is already holding mine to the floor. Many things happen at this point. Sephiroth jams his sword straight into my shoulder bone, earning a horrifying scream, probably one of the loudest I've ever released. Tifa yells my name. Several gunshots erupt throughout the room. Reno and Rude make a run for it. While my vision is fading, so do my screams of pain as black spots begin to invade my vision.

LONG UPDATE! HOPED YOU LIKED IT! POOR VINNIE THO :'(


	12. Chapter 12

**SSORRY FOR ALL THE POV CHANGE THIS CHAPPIE!**

~Tifa's POV~

"Vincent!" I yell helplessly as Sephiroth stabs his shoulder to the bone.

Vincent yells out in pain, his facial expression actually changing for once. Somehow, I see a flash of

Turk-Vincent in his face as he cries out. I catch a glimpse of Reno and Rude making a run for it. Reno flicks two fingers off his temple in a simple gesture if goodbye, but I hold on to the hope of it being a signal. I can tell Vince won't be able to hold on much longer, so I get to work, faking a punch to the left side and hitting Loz square in the nose. I swing my leg around and knock him over, puffing air out of my nose. Where did those idiots go? I was having a hard enough time against Loz, but now that Kadaj and Yazoo are closing in...

Kadaj kicks me in the side, knocking me over easily. I struggle to stand, but Yazoo plops down on my stomach, knocking the breath out of my lungs. I gasp for breath and fight to get the straddling man off me, but he laughs at my attempts and swings a balled fist. I catch his hand and twist his arm, to which he barely winces, and simply breaks free, returning he gesture. I grit my teeth and glare up at him he leans over, his face dangerously close to mine as his brothers chuckle in the background.

"Did Cloud ever..."

"Enough!" Sephiroth says loudly. Yazoo pouts, but obeys. I yank my arm away and roll to my feet. "The day has yet to come when we finish off Avalanche," The way he says the word makes me shudder as he sneers at me. He pulls something from his pocket and their images flicker before Yazoo blows a kiss to me and they disappear.

I barely sit there for a moment to register what happened before turning and stumbling to Vincent's side. His red eyes are closed and his lips are slightly parted, shaky yet somewhat steady breaths being pulled through. I bite my lip gently as while I gaze at the deep wound in his shoulder. I can't see very well with his clothes covering it, but a darkened spot has already spread widely across the fabric of his shirt. Suddenly, loud, thudding footsteps stop short behind me and I whip my head around. Reno, Rude, Cid, and Cloud stand in the doorway. Cloud...

"I didn't ask him," Reno says quickly, pointing at the spiky haired blonde, who shoots him a glare.

"Want happened?" Cid says, his mouth hanging open slightly as he looks at Vincent.

"Long story," Rude shakes his head.

"Let's just get him out of here," I rush, looking back at my unconscious friend. Reno stands lazily in the doorway while Cloud silently helps Cid carry the tall, out cold man out of the room. I wipe my dusty hands off on my skirt before standing and looking at Reno.

"I thought you weren't coming back."

"Why wouldn't I?" he smirks. "We're allies, remember?"

"Right," I nod quickly, walking past to follow the two guys. Then I look back briefly. "Thanks Reno."

"No problem," his face heats up as he shrugs, pushing off the wall to follow. He's probably not used to a thank you or two. Rude leads, holding his gun even though I'm sure they're gone. As if reading my mind, Reno speaks up while we climb the rotting steps.

"Where do they go?"

"I don't know," I shake my head. "They just kinda... Disappeared."

"And left you?" He furrows his eyebrows.

"Yeah," I set my jaw, remembering the way Yazoo was acting. It was seriously annoying.

"That's... different," he shakes his head, the messy amount of red spikes on top if his head bouncing. I never got this guy's hair. A long, thin pony tail barely two inches around trails down his back while the rest of his head is covered in, short, soft looking spikes. He raises an eyebrow.

"You're staring at me."

"Sorry, just thinking," I sigh.

"About me?" he raises an eyebrow and bumps my shoulder. I gasp and his eyes widen with realization as I nearly fall over the edge.

"Shoot," he whispers quickly as he catches my arm and pulls my back to my feet. "Sorry!"

"It's fine. They really need a rail in this thing," I shake my head and glance down at the black hole. Of death. That's purple. Yeah.

"Yeah, they do," he agrees.

I think it's funny how days ago we were beating each other up and now we're acting like civilized friends. Life does strange things to people. We reach the top and continue to leave the town. Vincent must be a lot heavier than he looks because Cid's steps start to become more forced and Cloud's become slower as he readjusts his grip on his feet. Rude puts away his gun and tugs the door to the Highwind open, kicking the retractable step out. We don't usually use it, but we kinda have to in this situation. Reno places his hand gently on my shoulder as I watch them enter.

"Tell him get well soon and all that crap for me, okay?" He smirks and pats my back before walking away with Rude. I hop into the aircraft before the door slams shut.

~Cloud's POV~

Yuffie is already in the miniature hospital we have set up on the Highwind when we stumble in with Vince. He's so heavy for someone so thin. Tifa rushes in behind and steps out if the way so that we can set him down on the metal table. I release my grip on Vincent's legs and let out a deep breath, letting my tense shoulders relax. Yuffie taps her chin a few times before spotting the deep stab wound in his shoulder.

"How deep?" she searches through the cabinets bolted to the walls.

"To the bone," Tifa bites her lip. There's something about the way she's looking at him that makes my insides heat with jealousy. Granted, I have turned her down several times, but she is still my beautiful best friend.

"I need his shirt off," Yuffie says, still grabbing random things off the shelves. No one would have ever guessed Yuffie is the medic of the group. But she has a natural gift in medicine. That and a thing for decapitating her enemies. Forget I said that.

"Fine," Cid and I groan at the same time. He unbuttons while I tug his arms out of his top. This is extremely awkward... I never imagined having to semi undress my friend today. Yuffie sighs and places all her crap on the table.

"This dang hair," she shakes her head, pushing his thick, black hair off his shoulders and away from the bleeding cut. Then she looks up at Cid.

"Can you go get me some of that extra Anesthesia in the storage closet upstairs?"

"Sure thing," he nods.

"Just needed to get him out of the room," she smirks at me before looking back down at Vincent. She soaks a cloth in some sort of alcohol and has Tifa help her clean the room. The smell of blood and the sight if the stab make me nauseous and I have to leave the room, but being smart, Cid installed a window just outside, so I sit on the bench and stare inside.

"She kick you out?" Cid raises an eyebrow. I shake my head, my eyes never leaving Tifa. He shrugs and enters. Yuffie takes the bottle gratefully and the proceeds to make him leave.

"Well she kicked me out," he sighs, sitting next to me.

"She needs space," I shrug.

"She's Yuffie, she won't be content until she owns the universe," he rolls his eyes. "Maybe not even then."

"Probably," I laugh a little.

"I'm gonna go make sure Barret's not being a poop to the rest of the guys," he stands.

"You do that," I turn my attention back to the window. The girls struggle to lift his back enough to wrap the bandages around him. To cover the spot, they need to go over his injury and around under his other arm. You can't use materia to heal something this deep. I sigh and stand, pushing past the door and walking over to Yuffie's side.

"Need help?"

"Just hold his back up," she instructs immediately. I slide my hands under his back and lift, my arms straining under his weight. How is he this heavy!? He's so thin! He's also got a monster living inside him, I remind myself. I wonder what it feels like to have something that... demonic living in you, prepared to take over any minute. I shudder, Reno's words ringing through my brain. You are a monster. I shake my head. He was just teasing me, though I couldn't help but lose it. I tried to ignore the guilt in my gut when he caught me walking away towards the mountains, two dark bruises at the base of my neck. And then he lied to Tifa when she looked at him weird.

"Thanks," Yuffie says, her signal to me for me to put him down. "Cid got us dinner from that place in Sector 8," she adds, leaving the room.

"Sounds good," I say back, looking at Tifa, whose gaze is on Vincent. "Coming Tifa?"

"Not hungry," she plops down in a chair next his 'bed'. I roll my eyes and leave. At least someone will eat dinner with me.

~Tifa's POV~

I watch as Cloud leaves the room, hands jammed in his pockets. I spot him catch up to Yuffie and grab her arm gently. They talk for a few seconds before Yuffie nods excitedly and loops her arm through his and he laughs. Then they disappear from my view. I bite my lip hard enough to draw blood and look back at Vincent. Don't take this awkwardly, but I couldn't stop stealing glances at him while me and Yuffie took care him to best of our ability. With the high collar out of the way, I have a perfect view of his sharp jaw and perfectly shaped mouth. He has a perfectly shaped abdomen, and his muscles looked as if they were chiseled in by an artist.

I force my gaze back up to his messy hair and don't realize my hand is moving until it meets his arm. I trace lightly against his skin with my fingertips and frown. Since magic can't heal this sort of thing, he'll probably have to wear a sling. But I'm slightly confused. Why could Yuffie's impalement be healed faster? Maybe because there are two ways to apply the magic? I don't know. I absent mindedly push his black locks out of his face and sigh. What is it about him that forces me to enjoy being around him, despite his usually sullen attitude? It can't be his good looks, no one on board this ship is anywhere near ugly. It's like a magnet in my eyes is forcing me to look for him in every crowd, ignoring the other faces.

"Mm," Vincent makes an odd sound in his throat and his eyebrows dip in.

"Awake?" I say quietly.

"Mhmm," he keeps his eyes closed. Yuffie said he wouldn't wake up for a while longer... that's one of her big faults. Her sense of time. We'll say five minutes and two minutes later she'll be saying it's been an hour.

"How bad is it?"

"Can't fumliniet," he mumbles. I force a grin away. "Sure it'll feelicrat."

"Can't feel it, sure it'll feel like crap?" I guess out loud.

"Yeah," he mumbles, his lips look like they're trying to smile, but he's too tired.

"Yuffie says you might have to wear a sling for a few days until it heals all the way."

He groans, and this time I laugh. Poor Vince'll have to leave that arm at least for awhile.

"I'm tired," he mumbles.

"Then sleep," I smile and he does.

**LONG UPDATE! YAY! **


	13. Chapter 13

**FROM HERE ON THROUGH THE REST OF THE STORY, VINCE AND CLOUD ARE KINDA OOC... JUST A WARNING!**

~Yuffie's POV~

I tug Cloud's arm and skip down the hall. His laughs ring through the metal airship we're aboard and he struggles to keep his walk matching my pace. I can't believe he actually asked if I would eat sinner with him. Um, yes! I thought Tifa had a massive crush on Cloud or something but apparently she just wants to stay with Vincent. The spot where Sephiroth got him was pretty nasty. I shudder slightly and try to push the thoughts away.

"Wrong way!" Cloud digs his heels into the ground, which stops my skipping. He motions to the door that I tried to pass. Oh. Whoops.

"Oops," I laugh, pushing the door open.

I don't know how Cid managed to get all these rooms on the Highwind without it falling down. Where there used to be nothing, he had a construction team put some thin metal walls up and turned it into a small room full of cheap tables and chairs for the times we all ate together. Cloud wasn't there for very many. He was either moping in his room, taking a walk outside, or getting in trouble with the wild animals outside the Golden Saucer.

"There he is," Barret says loudly, waving for Cloud to come over. Cloud's arm tenses, but I give him a reassuring pat on the back and he stiffly walks over to the table. I awkwardly sit beside him.

"So I was thinking about you savin' our behinds the other day," Barret starts.

"What about it," Cloud replies blandly.

"I'm sorry for yellin' at you. I mean you did go against what I told you to, but you're the one in charge around here, not me."

"It's fine," Cloud shrugs indifferently, but I'm sure he's happy to have Barret back.

"We saved you some food!" Cid yells across the small room.

"Thanks!" I yell back.

"Why are we yelling!" Cloud yells in my face.

"I don't know," I yell back trying to keep a straight face.

"Okay, we get it," RedIIX groans, trying to cover his pointy ears with his big paws.

"Sorry," Cloud calls in a whisper. Red shoots him a glare before laying back down on the floor.

"So, uh... Where'd Tifa go?" Barret asks.

"Stayed with Vince," Cloud shrugs. "I guess the whole thing kinda got to her more than usual."

"Hmm," Barret says in agreement, but his curious eyes tell me he probably doesn't think the same thing.

"How did the meeting with the Turks go?" I ask. Cloud chokes on a sip of water and coughs. I jump and Barret looks at me, confused.

"Uh... I'll tell you later," He mumbles. Barret sighs and shakes his head.

"This doesn't have to do with Sephiroth controlling you does it?" He asks with a frown.

"No! No, it was... kinda my fault."

"What did you do," I raise an eyebrow.

"I sorta... Choked Reno," he says quietly, glaring at the table.

"You what?!" Barret looks at him with disbelief.

"He was bothering me about the remnants and Sephiroth and telling me I was a monster and junk. I don't know, I was just tired if it." Cloud sighs.

"Well it looks like you gave him what he wanted." Barret crosses his arms.

"What?" Cloud frowns.

"You proved to him you can be a monster." _Everyone can._

Cloud stands and begins to leave. I bite my lip and return my gaze to Barret.

"Go after the poor guy," He sighs.

I roll my eyes and follow him. He's already out the door and walking quickly down the hall by the time I catch up.

"Cloud." I say, frowning.

"You heard him. Even my own friends think I'm a monster," He stops abruptly, turning to look at me.

"I don't," I shake my head, stopping in front of him.

"You don't count. One person doesn't matter against six, Yuffie," He sighs.

"Since when do I not matter," I cross my arms, suddenly angry.

"I wasn't talking about..." he starts.

"And you can't count Vincent. No offense, but he's kinda half monster."

"Fine, five. But I wasn't talking about you."

"What do you mean?" I frown.

"I was talking about me. I don't stand a chance if they vote for me to leave and just go back to my normal life." _If they what?!_

"But we ARE your normal life," I rest a hand on his shoulder.

"I know, I wouldn't have anywhere else to go though."

"So you don't care about us, just a place to stay?" I start to pull my hand away. He catches it.

"No! Of course I care about you guys, some more than others," I can't help but think he's thinking about Tifa. "But if you don't want me here..."

"Tifa would always want you here, you know that."

"I wasn't talking about Tifa," he shakes his head.

"Wha..."

"I was talking about Vincent," he fails at forcing a smile down as he cups my face. Then he bursts out laughing. "Oh my gosh, that horrified look on your face was priceless," he laughs harder, releasing my face.

"I don't know, he's a pretty hot dude," I joke, wiggling my eyebrows.

"Don't do that," he groans, covering his face with his hands.

"What, this?" I do it again.

"Stop it!" He uses his thumbs to hold my brows in place.

"Your thumbs are really strong," I say, trying to move my eyebrows, but failing miserably.

"So are your eyebrows."

"Iron brows!" I Cheer.

"Okay?" he raises an eyebrow.

"Please release my face, sir," I stick my bottom lip out.

"Don't do that either," he frowns.

"Why? Are you going to hold my mouth together?" I laugh.

"Maybe," he smirks. I continue to laugh until I jump. My heart pounds and somehow my hands find my way to his neck. Why is Cloud Strife, the most attractive guy in the universe, kissing me?! Because I'm an awesome ninja, that's why.

~Tifa's POV~

I hear the ruffle of sheets and jolt awake. My butt hurts from sitting in the cheap wooden chair by Vincent's bed and my back aches. I push my hair out of my face and look over to Yuffie's patient. His red eyes flutter open.

"Arise, sleepy head," I joke sleepily, yawing.

"I'm awake," he says, pushing himself up with his injury free arm. He sits up and looks around.

"Where's the 'doctor'?" he smirks.

"At dinner with Cloud," I shrug indifferently. Why does it matter anymore? He doesn't like me back and just wants to be my friend. So be it.

"Oh," he frowns looking at the window. "Doesn't it bother you?"

"Not really," I shrug. "He's made his choice and I've made mine."

"Yours?" he raises an eyebrow.

"Yeah," I say, not offering any further explanation.

"I have to wear a sling, huh?" he looks down at his shoulder. "Dang hair," he pushes it away.

"Yuffie said the same exact thing," I laugh.

"Really?"

"Yep."

"How bad was it?" he asks, looking at his shoulder as best as he could.

"What?" I frown, confused. "Your hair?"

"No," He laughs. "My shoulder."

"Oh, um..." I blush. "Pretty bad."

"No materia, huh?" he looks up to meet my eyes.

"Nope," I look down at my lap. I can almost feel his smirk.

"Am I at least allowed to leave the room?" he raises an eyebrow.

"I don't know?" I say, more of a question than an answer.

"Well I'm definitely not going to be bossed around by a short ninja child," he chuckles, taking the thin sheet covering his body off, revealing his bare chest.

I blush as I watch him stand, his back to me, and he attempts to tug his arms into his sleeves. He fails, grimacing when he accidentally moving his injured shoulder. He looks back at me with innocent, mischevious, and hopeful eyes.

"Little help?"

"S-Sure," I feel my face flush again as I stand, walking over to the other side of the table, and holding one sleeve out, which he slips on arm into easily. Then I hold the one on his injured side a little lower, though he still winces. Then he buttons it back up easily and pulls the collar back up over his mouth.

"Let's go," He starts toward the door.

"Hey," I raise an eyebrow and put my hands on my hips. He visibly cringes as his head ducks lower. "You forgot your sling."

"No," he groans. "I was hoping you had forgotten."

"Well I didn't, now come here."

"Fine," he grumbles, stalking over.

"Sit down, you ten foot tall man," I joke.

"I'm not tall, you're just short."

"Are you kidding me?" I raise an eyebrow. "Six feet tall is tall. I'm average sized."

"Whatever you say, Tifa," he rolls his eyes and smirks.

"And what I say, goes," I smirk back as he sits on the edge of the table. Then I push his arm into the bottom and try to fast the buckling ends behind his neck. "Lean down," I command.

He bends his neck so that our faces are inches apart. I swallow hard as my eyes meet his.

"Not that close?" he chuckles, moving back a little bit.

"Probably not," I laugh nervously, finally making the ends click together.

"Ow, that got my hair," he winces.

"Darn hair," I smile at him before holding the door open.

"I'm not disabled, Tifa," he rolls his eyes as he walks through.

"I know."

"Then stop treating me like it."

"How's the arm holding up, Mr. Valentine?" I asks in a high pitched voice.

"Shut up," he glares at me.

"Okay!" I hold up my hands in surrender just as we stop in front of the window.

"I miss when the world had no Sephiroths," Vincent shakes his head as we take in the view.

"Me too." I nod.

"I wish he never existed," he shakes his head.

"But then how would we all have met each other?" I cock my head to the side, watching a couple wild chocobos running.

"True," he nods. We stand in silence watching all the animals and other odd creatures that roam the flat, grassy area.

"A blessing in disguise," Vincent whispers.

I couldn't agree more.

**DIALOGUE. MY SPECIALTY ;). ERM MEH GERD, THEY KISSED! I ALREADY HAVE THIS WRITTEN ON WATTPAD, BTW, IN CASE YOU DON'T WANT TO WAIT FOR ME TO STOP BEING LAZY AND JUST COPY AND PASTE ALREADY! JUST LOOK FOR MRS_STRIFE. I HAVE THIS BOOK AND THE SEQUEL POSTED AND FINISHED! **

**PS- I HAVE BEEN SUCKED INTO THE FF13 FANDOM, SO I'M GOING TO POST A 13&7 CROSSOVER SOON. I'VE ALREADY GOT THE FIRST THREE CHAPTERS TYPED TOO!**


	14. Chapter 14

~Cloud's POV~

I can tell I took her by surprise when our lips meet. She jumps and somehow ends up stepping on my foot, to which I want to roll my eyes to, but I can't because my eyes are shut. I feel her arms on my neck, pulling me closer to her short height. I smile, almost laughing at the height difference. 5'2 to 5'7 isn't a HUGE difference, but enough to make my neck bend. Wait, why am I thinking about this?

"That's when the engine started smoking," I hear Cid say, somewhere around the corner. The thump of four pairs of boots rings through the ship. I feel my heart speed up and pull away, tugging her into a hug just as they round the corner.

"Act surprised," I whisper in her ear.

"Um..." I can practically sense Cid's raised eyebrow.

"I have no idea," Yuffie shrugs, holding up her hands.

"What'd you do? Kill a roach or somethin'?" Barret asks, following Cid down the hall.

"You idiot," she shakes her head when I pull away, just as they move out of earshot.

"Am NOT," I pout playfully, my mood lightening easily.

"Are too!" she shoots back, sticking her tongue out. I smirk at how her cheeks are slightly red.

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Don't you have a patient to attend to?" I smirk, raising an eyebrow.

"I was going to attend to him, but some pretty-boy decided to play 'Weird the Cid Highwind Out'."

"Ooo, did he win?!" I hide a smile.

"Not really. He didn't do the ONE thing that would make him pee himself."

"What would that be?" I smirk and raise an eyebrow. My eyes widen as I listen to her perfectly evil plan.

"Ready?"

"Ready," I nod.

We both look at the wall where our shadows are clearly projected and line them up, not even having to touch each other. Not that I care or anything... Ahem, back to the shadows. Yuffie skillfully manages to make it look like we're making out or whatever. All I have to do is play along. And pretend to be Barret. Which would be now. I clear my throat and give it my best shot.

"Yo Cid, get yo butt ovah here!" I yell.

"Hang on," I hear him yell.

"Now!" I yell again, trying to hold back my laughter.

"Okay, Okay, coming. Geeze!"

"Go!" Yuffie whispers. She starts making... ODD sounds. Our shadows look... well, like we're kissing. Intensely. I'm trying so hard not to crack up right now.

"Barret, where are... Cloud?" Cid says from barely ten feet away. "Yuff... Oh. Uh... I'm gonna go..."

"Plan B," Yuffie whispers, sliding her hands into her shirt and turning it around backwards while I make a lame attempt at messing my hair up.

"Cmon Cloud, it won't kill you," she reaches over and makes all my blonde spikes turn into... messiness. Then we run around the corner, nearly crashing into the pilot. I jam my hands in my pockets.

"Did you need us?" I raise my eyebrows expectantly.

"Er... No, that's..."

"I swear you said our names," Yuffie shakes her head.

"No, that's okay, you looked... busy." His face flushes and I can't help but press on.

"Busy? What do you mean?"

"Uh... Preoc, active, doing something. Busy." This time Yuffie's face goes slightly red.

"I've got no idea..." I start.

"Oh wait!" Yuffie speaks up. "I know what he's talking about!"

"That's great Yuffie. Uh, you..." Cid begins.

"What?" I look at her, head cocked to the side.

"You know, what we were doing back there?" She wiggles her eyebrows. I swear Cid's face is going green. I'm enjoying this too much.

"Oh right," I over exaggerate a wink to her.

"Right, so um... You two, er, have fun or whatever, I'm gonna go... I've gotta fix something," he blushes and ruffles his light hair before walking away awkwardly.

"Should we tell him?" I say to Yuffie.

"Probably," I chew on my bottom lip, watching the poor guy's neck flare up red again as he probably analyzes the conversation in his mind.

"Let's go," she grabs my hand and tugs me after him.

"Hey Cid!" I yell. He pauses before walking a little faster. "Cid!" I catch his arm. He takes in a deep breath and pinches he bridge if his nose.

"What."

"I'm sorry, before we begin, I would just like to say," Yuffie points at me. "He did it!"

"What?! No, this was all your plan!"

"Plan?" Cid looks up, still pale.

"Joke!" I say quickly.

"Oh so it was..." he sighs with relief before laughing nervously. "Okay, that makes it better," he chuckles again.

"What, do I,'' I pause dramatically, striking a model pose and holding the back of my head, forcing my hair to stick up like peacock feathers. " Give off that vibe?"

"I swear you're gay," Cid shakes his head before looking back at Yuffie. "Don't you?"

"I used to," she shrugs, her cheeks coloring again. What is with her cheeks? They're practically glowing red by now.

"But... Wait were you actually... for the joke..." Cid's eyes widen.

"OH MY GOSH, DON'T TAKE IT LIKE THAT! TAKE IT LIKE A KISS, YOU DIRTY MINDED FREAK!" Yuffie bursts.

"Um... What?" he looks confused.

"Nothing," Yuffie sighs, pulling me behind her. I'm still striking poses. "Cmon, Gay Guy."

"Excuse me?" I look offended.

"That's your new sidekick name."

"I am, in all respect to your meaningless opinion, as straight as an arrow."

"And some arrows can never go completely straight," she glances back at me.

"Are you saying I'm bi?" I gasp.

"You get the best of both worlds, don't you?" She bites her lip to suppress a laugh.

"You're disgusting," I shake my head.

"You love it," she smirks back. My heart skips. Why? No idea. I'm just hungry. Wait, what does that have to do with my gut?

"Bluegalagamegablue!" I yell back in response. She looks generally scared, weirded out, and confused all in one. Score!

**BET YOU FREAKED WHEN YOU SAW THESE CAPITOL LETTERS! NO? OKAY. ADDED A LITTLE EXTRA... :D**

~Vincent's POV~

I can hear a bit of Cloud and Yuffie's conversation with Cid from all the way over here with Tifa. I can tell she can hear them too, because she's on the brink of laughter. I look around the room, the bright lights in the ceiling hurting my eyes a little when I look up.

"Idiots," she mutters with a smile on her face.

"What?" I look at her.

"Nothing," she shakes her head, her lips pursed.

"I'm sure," I shake my head with a smile.

"That's good." she looks up at me.

"What?"

"That you're sure I'm right."

"I didn't say..."

"Yes you did."

"What happened to Ms. Tifa Nurse?" I groan.

"Whatever happened to happy Vincent?" she shoots back playfully.

"Happy Vincent is asleep. You're stuck with tired, grumpy Vinnie for awhile."

"I thought you hated it when people called you that?"

"Only I can call me that."

"What about me?" she raises an eyebrow.

"I don't know. Are you worthy of the nickname?" I tease.

"Um, yes!"

"You let me leave my 'hospital bed.'"

"I didn't have much of a choice," she reminds me of how I pretty much forced her to help me. She's too nice to let me go alone.

"That's my fault," I smirk down at her.

"Kinda is."

"Vincent! Get back to bed!" I hear Yuffie squeal at us. Why is her shirt on backwards...? And what's with Cloud's hair? He looks like a homeless guy.

"Um, why are your..."

"He's just a bad patient," Tifa interrupts me.

"Well thanks."

"Let's go," she pulls my good arm.

"I don't wanna," I whine.

"Oh my gosh Vincent, did you seriously just try to pull the five year old line on me?" Yuffie stares at me. "Should we call you Vinnie-boo now?"

"I'd prefer not." What kind of nickname is that?

"Good." She pulls me again.

"Cmon Cloud!" Tifa calls back at him, a few steps behind me. Yuffie's grip on my wrist tenses slightly.

"Coming," I glance back to see he's trying to fix his hair as fast as possible. Kid, your hair will be fine. I'm the injured person here. And my shoulder feels like crap, so hurry up.

"Now," Yuffie says stiffly.

"Okay," he sighs in defeat before jogging to catch up.

"I swear it's like he's trying to make people think..." I start.

"His new side kick name is Gay Guy," Yuffie sends a smirk to me.

"What?!" I laugh.

"Try it out."

"Hey Gay Guy!" I look behind us to see Cloud ducking his head down to his shoulders and sending us a glare. We both laugh and Tifa looks utterly confused.

"Shut up! I'm not gay!" Cloud yells at me.

"Hey, I'm not judging," I shrug, trying to fight a smile.

"There's nothing to judge," he glowers.

"Okay, it your choice for when you want to come out of the closet, buddy," Yuffie giggles.

"You guys are awful," he covers his face.

"I bet you have a secret crush on Vince," Yuffie wiggles her eyebrows. I roll my eyes.

"Do you now?" I look back at Cloud, eyebrows raised. Tifa still looks completely confused.

"No! Just... Ugh!"

"Sorry," I laugh, patting his back. "Just trying to be annoying."

"You're doing it," he looks up at me, irritated.

"I'm so lost," Tifa shakes her head.

"Well Tifa..." Yuffie starts.

"Shut up before I lock you in a closet and duct tape your mouth shut," Cloud glares up at her.

"Okay," Yuffie's eyes widen and she pushes the door open. "Leh go!" she tugs me into the room.

"Let me see the shoulder," she demands. I sigh, sitting on the table. Then I pull the sling I'm wearing off and pull my arm out of it's sleeve. She doesn't even seem fazed, unlike Tifa, who turns into a purple tomato.

"That looks a little better," she nods.

"How long until it's ALL better?" I say in a little kid voice.

"Maybe a week, Vinnie-boo," she says back.

"Don't," I groan.

"Go to sleep," she literally shoves me down and chucks the blanket at me.

"No, I'm not sleeping here again."

"What's wrong, can't take a little back pain?"

"No, I can't."

"Let's go then."

"But it's only seven," I pout.

"So are you, apparently," she shakes her head.

"Mhmm," I roll my eyes and follow her out the door again. I instantly feel some one's eyes on me, and when I turn around, Tifa looks down, blushing. I smirk, having caught her staring, and follow Yuffie down the hall. I can feel her burning stare in my back. This feels odd, just strolling the halls halfway shirtless.

"In here," Yuffie motions for me to enter the room.

"I know where it is, Miss Bossy."

She rolls her eyes and climbs up on one of the bunks. I choose the bottom of another one, far from her. I'm positive she TRIED to keep me awake with her constant shaking the bed and snoring. Brat.

"Night Vince," She yawns.

"Whatever, Yuffie," I roll my eyes.

I rest the back of my head on my hands and watch Cloud tug his shoes off, leaving them by the door, and climbing into the bed under Yuffie's. Tifa shrugs abs climbs above me.

"Mind if I join you," she asks, throwing a shoe down on the floor.

"Not really," I shrug.

"Night."

"Night."

**BORING END. OH WELL. HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE EXTRA STUFFS. I'M REALLY SORRY FOR NOT UPLOADING IN FOREVER! I'VE BEEN WRITING MY FF13 & FF7 CROSSOVER, WHICH I PROMISE TO GET UP SOON! I HOPE YOU ALK HAD A HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON, AND GUESS WHAT?! I FINALLY BEAT FF7 ON CHRISTMAS, SO YEAH. I FEEL SPECIAL :) REVIEW?**


End file.
